Issue 803 - April 2010 - Race Walk UK

fame! Was it Andy Warhol who saideverybody has 30 minutes of fame in theirlife. Trouble is that mine has taken over 100hours!Best wishes, Mike Rowland------------I just think it is so good that at last we havewalkers of the calibre of Ben W Tom B andAlec W as they are young and I'm fed up ofgoing to international races listening tonegative thoughts and seeing the Brits doso badly. Hopefully times will return goodnow and I feel that Ben has so muchpotential lastly it is so important that wesend male and female walkers to Delhi sosub 89 is great or walks in theCommonwealths will be no longer.Pete Ryan------------A smashing day for race walking in VictoriaPark yesterday with good fields and a lot ofthe walking community who weren't racingthere and involved, We did, however, I think,miss an oppportunity to market our sport tothe park full of people out in the Springsunshine by ignoring them and appearingonly concerned with ourselves and ourevent. I am sure that there were manyonlookers who were bemused by what wasgoing on and indeed on my way round Iheard the discussions as to what event thiscould be - very few of them would havebeen aware that they were witnessing aNational championship in an Olympic event.My heartiest congratulations and thanks toall those involved in putting on yesterdays'sevent.Steve Allen------------Well done on putting the old RWR archivesup on the RWR website - a great initiative.Things are going well here and our walkingnumbers and age spread continues to bestrong,although we still suffer the inevitabledrain once kids leave school - no easyanswers on that one! On the Ericksonfront, our son Chris is in the WC 50kmteam and has also been named in ourComm Games 20km team so he is in fora big year. Lois and I will go to Delhi butnot to Mexico (finances!) Kind regardsand thanks as always.Tim Erickson, Australia------------RE: ArchivesI bet it’s a long-term project! It seems tome a very useful thing andcongratulations on being brave enough toembark on it. I was once approached bya company that offered to do the job; Ithink that their price was just a little shortof £1,000; made me laugh for days, it did.With best wishes,Peter Cassidy------------I have just got back from Naumburg - thisweekend I was an international athlete! Igot free entry and room and board at theNaumburg International Racewalk /German championships. They even hada Union Jack flying just for me! It was agreat experience. I finished in 2:05:13.Some seriously fast walkers in the race,when they lapped me the leaders weregoing a lot faster than they were inLondon! A very impressive event, theonly event I have seen better organisedthan this was Leamington 2007! This wasthe German championships for everyone,all ages from 9 to 70+, awards in all agegroups, UKA and BMAF please takenote! I plan to do this event again nextyear, hopefully a few more of mycountrymen and women will join me, it’sa good race for some of the promisingyoungsters to get some high classinternational competition.Tony BellEnglishman in Hamburg, GermanyIn the next issue...Nutrition, Technique, Drugs, Results, Reports, News, Photos... And anything I havemissed out of this issue. DON'T MISS IT - OUT VERY SOON!