was in February 2000 to race in the Open Men's Australian Championship 20km walk on February 26th. This event was also an Olympic trial race and Olympic test event. The race was conducted concurrently with the Open Womens Australian 20km walk Championship.
I finished 27th out of 29 competitors, in 1hr 54min.43secs. I was the 19th Australian to finish, there were 8 internationals in front of me, and there were also quite a lot of DNF's probably due to the hot and humid (close to 100%) conditions and the fast pace early due to the presence of many international athletes in the race, and excitement of the venue. Joel Sanchez of Mexico, is one who after finishing 2nd in this race, returned to this venue for the Olympics later that year to pick up a bronze medal in the 50km. Full results here. The conditions were hot and very humid. The race began with 5 laps of the Stadium Australia 400m track (2km), then another 2km out to the road course outside the stadium, where we did 7 times 2km laps, (and made great use of the drinks tables...), then back into the stadium to finish on the track in Stadium Australia in front of a small crowd of a few thousand....It was an awesome experience.
Here are some photos from the trip; Me after the race in the stadium...Thanks to Caleb Maybir of QLD for taking this photo.
In the post-race athletes area, with all the Men's and Women's 20km walkers, waiting for our accreditation passes so we could leave the area...
Before the race we assembled at the SIAC and went through the tunnel into the Olympic Stadium.
Sydney International Athletics Centre (SIAC) photo HEREand; *LOL* here;
I stayed at the Burwood motel while I was there as it was reasonably close to the train system that went to the Stadium Australia. The day after the race I visited my Uncle Bruce, Aunty Raema, and cousins, and went to their church group;
My 1998 race PB for a 20km walk is 1.46, I have splitted 1.42 in training during a 25k training walk, so I think I was capable of mid 1.30's at least, maybe better. However in 2000 I wasn't at my best, although I had trained up well enough to avoid being last place. My 1.54 in this race as a 26 year old is slower than the 1.51 I did winning a state U/20 title as a 16 year old in 1989.
So my 1.54 in this race was by no means a true reflection of the levels I reached in the previous decade or so when I had good training for a few months consistently, it was more just an opportunity to enjoy racing on the Olympic track in a race which had a distinct international flavour ( a lot of international world class and Olympic medallist athletes in this race), and simulated what it would be like to race in the Olympics as close as I am ever likely to get, although until I turn 65 (if I live that long), I will still harbour the dream of possibly doing the real thing, however extremely unlikely (some would say impossible) that is. Whatever happens this day is one of the most special days of my life, and always will be in my top 20 most likely.
Open Men 20km Walk Final
1 Deakes, Nathan (AIS) 1:21:47
2 Sanchez, Joel (MEX) 1:21:55
3 A'hern, Nicholas (AIS) 1:22:15
4 Russell, Dion (VIC) 1:24:09
5 Adams, Luke (NIS) 1:25:29
6 Barrett, Craig (NZL) 1:26:09
7 Sundstrom, Troy (NIS) 1:26:37
8 Perricelli, Giovanni (ITA) 1:28:56
9 Vallance, Brent (NSW) 1:29:48
10 Brugnetti, Ivano (ITA) 1:30:05
11 Murphy, Liam (SSI) 1:30:34
12 Malcolm, Brad (VIC) 1:31:23
13 Bown, Darren (SSI) 1:31:58
14 Cousins, Duane (VIS) 1:32:07
15 Russell, Jarrod (VIC) 1:32:21
16 Costin, Jamie (IRL) 1:32:48
17 McGrath, Dominic (VIS) 1:32:54
18 Harbans Singh, Narinder (MAS) 1:34:46
19 Abdul Rahman, Mohd Sharrulh (MAS) 1:37:19
20 Donahoo, Mark (VIC) 1:39:41
21 Bertei, Frank (VIC) 1:40:03
22 Balaysendaram, Thirukumaran (MAS) 1:40:10
23 Jamieson, Andrew (VIC) 1:43:25
24 Russell, Warren (NSW) 1:43:57
25 Knox, Duncan (VIC) 1:49:05
26 Reid, Ross (VIC) 1:50:06
27 Phillips, Jonathon (WAU) 1:54:43
28 Maybir, Caleb (QLD) 2:02:21
29 Osborne, Robert (NSW) 2:02:41
Open Women 20km Walk Final
1 Alfridi, Erica (ITA) 1:30:06
2 Perrone, Elisabetta (ITA) 1:30:36
3 Saville, Jane (AIS) 1:30:58
4 Saxby-Junna, Kerry (AIS) 1:33:51
5 Paolini, Lisa (NSW) 1:34:35
6 Webb, Cheryl (NSW) 1:36:14 7 Fang, Yuan Yu (MAS) 1:36:14
8 Wolowiec, Simone (VIS) 1:40:06 9 Kara-Ali, Lara (SAU) 1:45:27 10 Muldoon, Wendy (VIC) 1:46:10
11 Rosengrave, Tracy (VIC) 1:51:22 12 Barrett, Diane (NZL) 1:52:44 13 Excell, Kelly (NSW) 1:54:57
14 Ferguson, Carolyn (VIC) 1:58:16 15 Hay, Shirley (VIC) 1:58:28 16 Shorten, Melisa (NSW) 2:01:00
