2015 Greater Boston Track Club Invitational – 1/25/2015
Gordon Indoor Track – Harvard University

Mixed 1 Mile Race Walk Junior
1 Allen, Maegan            W16 Unattached             7:41.17
2 Allen, Nolan                M14 Unattached             8:17.28
3 Caira, Alessia              W14 Waltham Track       9:13.47
4 Burgess, Moira           W14 LA Racewalkers    10:28.80

Mixed 3000 Meter Race Walk
1 Dunn, Spencer            M16 Unattached           14:48.50
2 Brenner, Samuel         M18 Unattached           14:55.79
3 Sirois, Sydney             W LA Racewalkers        15:01.91
4 Allen, Kayla                 W LA Racewalkers        15:24.04
5 O’Rourke, Ed              M52 New England        15:57.93
6 Lindoe, Holly               W Franklin Pierce         16:07.51
7 Daniel, Maryanne        W56 ConnQuest          16:44.09
8 Emery, Siana              W16 LA Racewalkers    16:47.28
9 Peckiconis, Stephen    M55 Cambridge SU      17:16.54
10 Allie-Morrill, Pam        W Unattached             17:47.64
11 Bickford, Hayley         W15 Gorham               18:25.67
12 Wilder, Clyde             M78 Unattached           22:35.99

Hillhouse High School, New Haven, CT
1600 Yard Race Walk Mile
(source: www.usatf-ct.org)

Men 29&U
1  Lazor, Jonathan     17 Unattached             7:52.22

Men 40-49
1  Vayo, Bill          49 Unattached             8:01.33

Men 70-79
1  Davis, Gustave      76 Connecticut           12:02.18

Women 29&U
1  Licursi, Kristi     18 Unattached             8:05.93
2  Vaitones, Valentin  17 Golden Spike           8:30.33

Women 50-59
1  Daniel, Maryanne    55 Connectitcut           8:10.19
2  Armstrong, Ginger   51 Unattached            11:15.28
-  Hambrick, Denise    57 Unattached                  DQ (bent knee)

Women 60-69
1  Pasquale, Elizabet  61 Unattached             9:29.52

The New England Walkers elected a new president, saluted their outgoing one, and laid out an agenda for 2014 at their annual meeting Nov. 10 in Groton, MA.

The club elected Ed O’Rourke president, Brian Savilonis vice president, Justin Kuo treasurer, Rich McElvery member-at-large, and Charlie Mansbach secretary. Members thanked club founder Tom Knatt for his 31 years as president, presented him with two inscribed cakes, and made plans to name a race in his honor.

The club voted to give $250 to Valia Vaitones, a 17-year-old walker from New Hampshire, to help her attend a race walking training camp in Texas. The allocation is being made as part of the club’s mission to encourage and develop young walkers. The club will ask Valia to share her experiences on the NEW website.  In addition to attracting young athletes, we want to set a goal of getting at least 5 new club members this year from the Masters level athletes.

On the same theme of reaching out to more young athletes, we discussed putting our contact information on race walking fliers that could be distributed at events, and of supercharging our website and Facebook page to spread our message.  We plan to have regular conference calls to discuss further steps. Ed suggested we have these meetings monthly and the mandatory club meetings quarterly. We want to develop some great ideas we can implement in promoting the sport ad the club.

We also will explore whether we could pique further interest by distributing appealing race walking T-shirts. We will investigate the choices and prices.

After the national-level complications that prevented us from hosting the USA one-hour championships in 2013, we voted to tell our national representatives, Steve Vaitones and Justin Kuo, that we would be willing to host the national 5K, 10K, or one-hour championship in 2014.

The club listed these NE Grand Prix events for 2014:

1. Dartmouth Relays 1 mile
2. Eastern or NE Masters Indoor 3K
3. Greater Boston Track Club Indoor 3K
4. New England Indoor 3K
5. Pepperell Rail Trail 8K
6. Seacoast 5K, NE Outdoor 3K
7. Bay State Games 3K
8. Eastern Masters Outdoor 3K

Also included, whatever local national championship we may wind up hosting, and the Connecticut 10K. Walkers may also include an out-of-town national championship.

Brian proposed regular club workouts on the rail trail in Groton, perhaps as an alternative to the often-sparsely attended races at Danehy Park in Cambridge. Ed said we need to create clusters where walkers can find us. More discussion will follow.

The meeting was hosted by Ed and Deborah O’Rourke. Also attending were Beth Katcher, Tom Knatt, Rich McElvery, Joanne and Bill Harriman, HIlary and Bob Keating, Ann Neuburg, Brian Savilonis, and Charlie Mansbach.

Charlie Mansbach, NEW Secretary

Here are the results of the Riverdale 10-kilometer and 4-kilometer Race Walks in Brookline, MA. The unjudged race walk/clinic was held on Sunday, September 8, 2013.

10-kilometers
------------
1. Charlie Mansbach (68)  Newton       72:22
 (splits: 2K 14:03, 4K 28:26,  6K 43:00, 8K 57:40)

2. Paul Schell (76)      Malden       77:40
 (splits: 2K 14:26, 4K 29:35, 6K 45:11,  8K 61:12)

4-kilometers
------------
1. Clyde Wilder (76)     Needham      31:24
  (splits: 2K 15:43)

Aug 11 Danehy Park this month will be on the Rail Trail Groton MA (5K) 10:30 a.m. Go to parking lot at the end of Station Ave. Turn off Rte 119 between Bank of America and Townhouse. Afterwards, there will be a potluck at 687 Townsend Road Groton MA, 12 noon. Bring your bathing suit. 978-448-9663

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ktlincoln/the-spasmic-glory-of-race-walking-in-gifs  These videos are continuous loops of about 5 seconds.  They are interesting , because they feature the top walkers.

Ed O’Rourke did 26:15 for 5K at the Upstate Holiday Classic in Rochester NY on Dec. 29, 2012. Tom Knatt received a nice certificate for becoming the master’s 70-74 American Record holder for one mile in 10:40 set at Dartmouth on Jan. 8, 2011.

Here are the results of the USATF New England Junior Olympics 1500 meter race walk, held on June 18, 2011 on the track at Fitchburg State University

All ages raced 1500 meters
===============================================================
Boys
Dylan Greger           Innovation Academy           10:41.00 Intermediate age 15-16

Girls
Rosie Garvey           Amherst NH Track Club        11:01.91 Youth age 13-14
Alexandra Cullen       Amherst NH Track Club        11:02.21 Youth age 13-14
Valia Vaitones         Golden Spike Track and Field 11:25.91 Intermediate 15-16
Jacqueline Fitzgerald  Waltham Track Club           11:45.27 Midget - age 11-12

There have been several attempts at American Age-Group records recently. Officials,  athletes and event directors are reminded that the event and athletes must meet certain requirements. Here’s a quick checklist.

• The race walk must be in an event limited to race walkers only.
• You need five Judges if the race walk is on a track . You need a minimum of six Judges if the race walk is on the road.
• At least one-half of the Judges must have a National or higher level certification and at least one Judge must have a Master or IAAF certification.
• Road courses must be USATF or IAAF certified before the day of the event. For race walks 10 kilometers, or longer, the circuit cannot be longer than 2500 meters. For race walks less than 10 kilomters, the circuit cannot be longer than 1250 meters.
• The race walk performance must be made in a bona fide event open to two or more clubs, schools, colleges or organizations which has been fixed and advertised before the day of competition.
• Records are acceptable only in events that have been sanctioned by the USATF, a member organization of USATF or another member federation of the IAAF by competitors eligible to compete under IAAF Rules.
• For track events over 10,000 meters and road events up and including the marathon, multiple events may be contested simultaneously. The race walker must complete the distance they entered in order for an intermediate time to be considered.
• For events longer than the marathon,  race walkers may compete at a distance shorter than the stated race distance, but longer than the marathon. The race walker is eligible for records even if the stated race distance is not completed.

For a complete listing of American record requirements, check the current USATF Competition Rules Book. Rules regarding records begin in Article V, with Rule 260.

I’ll add to this list so be sure to check this page again. Thank you. —  Justin

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