Walking the Walk | Race Walkers Championship-Ready

Australia’s top race walkers have ignited their 2022 campaigns with a three-week training block funded by Commonwealth Games Australia, crunching the kilometres both on the track and in the laboratory at the Australian Institute of Sport.  

Athletics Australia’s Event Group Lead for Race Walking, Brent Vallance, emphasised the importance of gathering the nation’s elite talent in January ahead of a Championship-heavy year, commencing with the Australian and Oceania 20km Race Walking Championships set to be held in Adelaide next weekend (Feb 13).

“For a number of years now, we’ve been moving towards a camp space model. So we try and get our talent pool together three of four times a year, with the first taking place in January annually. The idea is that we bring all of our categorised athletes together, along with those who we believe have the potential to make future teams,” Vallance said.

“Particularly for the walkers, there’s not a critical mass of walkers in areas. It’s pretty lonely doing 100-mile weeks on your own, but it’s a lot easier to do it in a group environment.”

With the likes of Jemima Montag and Declan Tingay leading the charge amongst numerous Tokyo Olympians and emerging stars, the group of 20 hailing from various coaches and states worked in unison,  to prepare for the national teams of 2022 – including the World Athletics Team Championships, World Athletics Championships, World Athletics Under 20 Championships and Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, which this year feature a 10,000m race walk on the track.

In the second of two 10,000m hit-outs on the track (mixed race), Tingay stopped the clock in a dazzling 39:01.3 to finish ahead of Kyle Swan in 39:22.0, whilst Montag demonstrated her class with a swift walk of 42:39.2. Victoria’s Will Thompson has been flagged as one to watch this year as he crossed the line in 41:00.3, whilst Clara Smith continues to enjoy a resurgence in the sport – clocking 45:36.1.

Oliva Sandery and Alanna Peart registered world junior qualifiers of 46:12.0 and 48:18.9 respectively, whilst Olympians Rhydian Cowley and Bec Henderson laid solid foundations for their seasons.

Vallance was quick to assert that Australia’s rich race walking history is a legacy that is set to be continued in the years to come, highlighting the youthfulness of the group and speaking with sheer optimism about the potential of Australia’s healthy race walking stocks. 

“It’s a stacked year for us, but if we look at Commonwealth Games specifically, there’s six medals available and I’ve been on record saying we want to win all six of them. At the recent Olympics, we were second in the men’s event in the Commonwealth, both in the 20km and 50km, and we were the year winner in the women’s event,” Valance said.

“Historically, if we look at our past very best, so our Olympic and World Championships medals, they’ve all been at Commonwealth Games. In the men’s events, we’ve won the gold since 1994 and in the women’s, we’ve won all bar one, so it’s a very important event for our athletes. It’s also probably the best pathway or transition competition from a lot of our juniors making senior teams, and gives them a taste of a multi-sport championship, setting them up for success later in their career.”

Part of that preparation for the global scene involved testing at the AIS to examine factors such as exercise economy and technique, with a focus on creating efficient athletes that have a low risk of disqualification on the world stage.

“We are looking for athletes with a big engine, ones with big anaerobic and aerobic thresholds, and good exercise economy. The exercise economy in walking is proving to be the number one predictor of performance, that seems to be our standout measure,” Vallance said.

The camp, funded by Commonwealth Games Australia's Green2Gold2Great program, placed high priority on generating a high performance environment for race walkers, in line with the program's goal of assisting the preparations of Australia's athletes in the lead up to Birmingham.

“We want to make sure everyone is prepared for the Championship. You want to do something that influences daily training environment,” Vallance said.

“We’d like to thank the CGA for their support of this camp. CGA have been a supporter of the walks events for a long time. They’ve been supporters of the funding that comes to our athletes mid Olympic cycle, and they also help expand the funding and resources that we can provide throughout the four-year quaddrenium cycle."

Catch our premier race walkers in action at the Australian and Oceania 20km Race Walking Championships in Adelaide next Sunday.

By Lachlan Moorhouse and Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 3/02/2022