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Can you run as fast as a race walker?

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Comments

  • #62
    Rantan
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 612 ✭✭✭Rantan


    has anyone actually ever trained for walking, competed in a race, or just tried it for the sake of it?


  • #63
    RoyMcC
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,567 ✭✭✭RoyMcC


    Rantan wrote: »
    has anyone actually ever trained for walking, competed in a race, or just tried it for the sake of it?

    Some years ago Ireland Olympian Deirdre Gallagher was in Jersey to give a masterclass and I found it horrendously difficult to travel at any speed.

    Interestingly race walking died out in Jersey many years ago but Guernsey still carry the flame through Sarnia WC.


  • #64
    Cartman78
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,111 ✭✭✭✭Cartman78


    Does anyone have a rough idea what time a top level walker could run a 10k in?

    Has an elite walker ever switched over to running?


  • #65
    TheRoadRunner
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,983 ✭✭✭TheRoadRunner


    Cartman78 wrote: »
    Does anyone have a rough idea what time a top level walker could run a 10k in?

    Heffernan is animal over 5k, has definitely ran sub 15 mins
    Cartman78 wrote: »

    Has an elite walker ever switched over to running?

    Don't know, but didn't Eamonn Coghlan famously say on TV a few years ago that race walkers were failed runners? ;)


  • #66
    Dodge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,519 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    Sure Jerry Kiernan thinks all 800m runners are failed sprinters, 5k runners are failed milers etc etc


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  • #67
    zico10
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,839 ✭✭✭zico10


    Jimmy Magee on DQ's;

    I can't find the quotation anywhere, so I'll have to paraphrase as best I can. After the women's 20km walking race at the 2000 Olympics, I recall a quote attributed to the great Jimmy Magee.
    One after another the three leaders were disqualified. Following which the eventual winner, Liping Wang, took the lead. She had however received one caution up to this point, and according to the Memory Man, adopted the wise strategy of "falling back to the pack, where she could run in peace."


  • #68
    Pherekydes
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,248 ✭✭✭✭Pherekydes


    Rantan wrote: »
    has anyone actually ever trained for walking, competed in a race, or just tried it for the sake of it?

    I did.

    I finished 3rd in a 3k track race. The winner lapped me! In a seven and a half lap race. The funny thing was that I received a warning for not walking properly (i.e. not straightening the leg during the support phase-no one has mentioned this rule yet), while the winner received no warnings.

    I could clearly see he was lifting when he was on the other side of the track. I then realised race walking was officially sanctioned cheating and quit.

    In the long jump you have plasticine and a camera to show if you have fouled, in the sprints you have a high-speed camera to help at the finish and so on, but in the walks they actually discourage the use of camera-aided technology. It makes zero sense.

    I don't think anyone in Athletics (who is not a RW fan) questions the dedication or CV fitness of these individuals (see Katie Veale's XC result at the W/E). It's the arbitrary nature of the rules and how they are applied.

    And don't bring in Rugby as a comparison, please. If they changed the rules and allowed Rugby to evolve it would turn into American Football, which has 7 officials on the field watching everything like a hawk and multiple angle slo-mo replays to approve or disprove contentious decisions.

    Now here is an experiment all you RW fans can do: next time you are walking anywhere, check yourself to see if you are straightening your leg during the support phase. Report back...


  • #69
    SnappyDresser
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 173 ✭✭SnappyDresser


    My father was national 20k racewalking champion for Ireland. Back in 1983 we ran the DCM. He did 2:58 and I did 3:11. He would easily have got to 2:45 if he dedicated himself. He was 50 years old at the time. Racewalking gave him tremendous power and strength. He said marathon running was easy compared to race walking. The following year he race walked in around 4 hours.


  • #70
    BobMac104
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,100 ✭✭✭BobMac104


    i008787 wrote: »
    My father was national 20k racewalking champion for Ireland. Back in 1983 we ran the DCM. He did 2:58 and I did 3:11. He would easily have got to 2:45 if he dedicated himself. He was 50 years old at the time. Racewalking gave him tremendous power and strength. He said marathon running was easy compared to race walking. The following year he race walked in around 4 hours.


    That s impressive!!

    Again i dont anyone is disputing the caliber of athletes (quite the opposite really) its just the enforcement of the rules which take from the event.


  • #71
    AEDIC
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 444 ✭✭AEDIC


    TheRoadRunner wrote: »
    Heffernan is animal over 5k, has definitely ran sub 15 mins



    Don't know, but didn't Eamonn Coghlan famously say on TV a few years ago that race walkers were failed runners? ;)


    This is Robs 5k race time (walking) in May when he was just back from injury and using it as a training session :mad: I was trailing in behind him... I wont say by how much :rolleyes:

    Robert Heffernan
    Temp
    19:09
    06:10


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  • #72
    thirstywork2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,800 ✭✭✭thirstywork2


    Cartman78 wrote: »
    Does anyone have a rough idea what time a top level walker could run a 10k in?

    Has an elite walker ever switched over to running?


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alina_Ivanova

    She is a former world champiOn race walker @ 10k in 42.57
    Has won 5 marathons with a pb of 2.27 and won the Dublin marathon.


  • #73
    Pisco Sour
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,029 ✭✭✭Pisco Sour


    zico10 wrote: »
    Jimmy Magee on DQ's;

    I can't find the quotation anywhere, so I'll have to paraphrase as best I can. After the women's 20km walking race at the 2000 Olympics, I recall a quote attributed to the great Jimmy Magee.
    One after another the three leaders were disqualified. Following which the eventual winner, Liping Wang, took the lead. She had however received one caution up to this point, and according to the Memory Man, adopted the wise strategy of "falling back to the pack, where she could run in peace."

    To be fair, I'd take a lot of what Jimmy says with a grain of salt. He still thinks Michelle Smith was clean :rolleyes:


  • #74
    myflipflops
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,817 ✭✭✭myflipflops


    I was forced (at near gun point) to do the walk in the league final before. I continually had to stop completely as i found it so hard not to run. I could not stand it.

    You have to have huge respect the level of fitness and performance that people like Heffernan and Loughnane have achieved in their careers. In terms of competitive championships though, there should be no room for subjectivity in any track and field event. Walking allows lots of it.

    Personally, I would rather see a bronze in the 100 hurdles, the 1500 or the 400 in London over a gold in the walk.


  • #75
    zico10
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,839 ✭✭✭zico10


    04072511 wrote: »
    To be fair, I'd take a lot of what Jimmy says with a grain of salt. :rolleyes:

    I do, I just thought it was funny.


  • #76
    thirtyfoot
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,912 ✭✭✭thirtyfoot


    zico10 wrote: »
    I do, I just thought it was funny.

    It is funny. Jimmy has had great moments. 'Different class' or 'Wilkinson, Wilkinson' in '84. He knows his sport.


  • #77
    Pisco Sour
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,029 ✭✭✭Pisco Sour


    thirtyfoot wrote: »
    It is funny. Jimmy has had great moments. 'Different class' or 'Wilkinson, Wilkinson' in '84. He knows his sport.

    "Wilkins and Wilkinson"

    Not to be pedantic or anything! :)

    He knows his sport alright, no dount about that. But believes in fairytales also. I heard him during the last Olympics talking about the "great" Marita Koch. In his book he talks about the "sensational" Flojo. Give me a break!! :rolleyes:


  • #78
    thirtyfoot
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,912 ✭✭✭thirtyfoot


    04072511 wrote: »
    "Wilkins and Wilkinson"

    Not to be pedantic or anything! :)

    He knows his sport alright, no dount about that. But believes in fairytales also. I heard him during the last Olympics talking about the "great" Marita Koch. In his book he talks about the "sensational" Flojo. Give me a break!! :rolleyes:

    If Jimmy was here he'd give you an umbrella purely on your sailing retort.


  • #79
    ChickenTikka
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 239 ✭✭ChickenTikka


    BobMac104 wrote: »
    do they suffer from hip injurys more? looks very tough on that area.

    The endurance section of a coaching course I was on a few years back was given by one of the top race walking coaches in Ireland. He said that research conducted on former race walkers in one of the Nordic countries showed that they suffered from far less skeletal/bone problems than the general population. He made the point that because one foot is in contact with the ground at all times (or nearly!), that there is almost no impact on each footfall and hence less damage to the joints than running on a hard surface.

    Regarding other posters comments on the merits or otherwise of race walking as a sport, why knock it just because you don't like it. There are many very dedicated athletes involved in the sport in Ireland and are achieving at the highest levels. Its not the only sport where people go outside the rules occasionally and win.


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