The annual Australian Summer 20km roadwalk championships left Hobart after a very successful 5 year stint and returned to Adelaide this year but what a day to return – Saturday saw a temperature of 40oC and the same was forecast for Sunday after an overnight low of 26oC. The 7AM start time for the 20km meant that at least the event was not contested in the extreme heat of the day but conditions were still less than ideal.
20 km men
With pre-race co-favourite Dane Bird-Smith a surprise late scratching in the men's 20km championship, the pressure was off Jared Tallent and he quickly went out to a commanding lead, completing the first 2km lap in 8:25, some 25 secs clear of a chasing group led by Chris Erickson, Rhydian Cowley and NZ Champion Quentin Rew. Chris and Quentin then upped the ante and started the chase but it was never to be as Jared continued to extend his lead throughout the race. When Rhydian dropped off the chasing group around the 9km mark, the first 3 places looked settled and so it was. After a first half of 41:44, Jared kept the pressure on in the hot conditions, crossing the finish line to win in 1:24:05. Quentin broke away from Chris around the 14km mark to take second in 1:25:22, while Chris came home strongly for third in 1:25:42. It was then a fair way back to Rhydian in 1:28:06, followed by Adam Rutter with 1:31:00.
20 km women
The women's championship was a closer affair with 2012 Olympian Beki Smith leading from the start but shadowed by a pack which included the other main contenders in Steph Stigwood, Rachel Tallent and Tanya Holliday, with Kelly Ruddick not far behind. By 10km, it was Rachel, Beki and Tanya in control with 46:23, with Kelly and Steph further back. Beki briefly took the lead at 15km but was soon reeled back in again, with Tanya showing all her experience to take the win in 1:34:05 ahead of Beki with 1:34:35 and Rachel with 1:35:03. The big improver in the field was NZ champion Alana Barber. Walking a conservative first half of 47:40, she negative split the second half, passing Steph and Kelly and finishing just behind Rachel with 1:35:07. This definitely puts her in contention for this year's World Champs as part of the New Zealand team.
The shorter races commenced a little later, with the Junior 10km invitational walks starting at 8AM and the U18 5km invitational walks starting at 9AM. The standout performances came from 16 year old NSW walker Tyler Jones who took out the men's U20 10km in 44:08, his second World Youth qualifier, and 15 year old Victorian walker Kyle Swan who came tantalisingly close to the 44:16 World Youth standard with a big PB time of 44:20.
by Tim Erickson
Sunday 22 February 2015
Full results in the section Risultati or direrctly dowload from this link: click here
More photo in photo album by Tim Erickson in the section Gallery or directy from this link: click here
Beki Lee Smith leads on Stephanie Stigwood (118), Tanya Holliday (113)
Rachel Tallent (120) and Nicole Fagan (112 - DNF)
Women podium with: Beki Smith, Tanya Holliday and Rachel Tallent