Took place this morning (the night in Italy) in Melbourne, in the traditional circuit of Fawkner Park, the Australian Championships of 50 Km.
The competition, ras usual, is open and at the same also participate some athletes which, normally in this part of the season, are in training in Australia.
At the 50 km of Australian Championship were combined invitation races on the distance of 20km (men and women), 10km U20 (men and women) and 5km U18 (men and women).
50 km
The victory went to Evan Dunfee (CAN) in 3:43:45.
With this result, the strong Canadian athlete has destroyed (more than four minutes) the previous record of Canada on the same distance that belonged from 1981 to Marcel Jobin (3:47:48).
In second place, but victorious in the Australian Championships, ranked the home athlete Chris Erickson in 3:54:10.
In third place arrived another foreign athlete in training in Australia: Marc Mundel (RSA) who complete the race in 3:54:12
With this result Evan Dunfee is in seventh place in the world ranking of 50 km (which we published recently) while Marc Mundell, improving the result of Dudince 2015, improves of a dozen positions.
We will re-present the list updated.
Eight athletes at the start, of which seven have completed the race and one DNF (the 20km bronze in Beijing 2015: Benjamin Thorne - CAN).
20 km men
Victory goes to Quentin Rew (NZL) in 1:22:58 in front of the Australians Rhydian Cowley (1:24:35) and Michael Hosking (1:26:16)
Even in this race eight athletes at the start, of which seven have completed the race and one DNF (Isamu Fujisawa - JPN)
20 km Women
Victory goes to Regan Lamble (AUS) with the performance of 1:30:45.
In second place was the other Australian Stephanie Stigwood in 1:32:22 in front of the New Zealand Alana Barber (1:32:50)
Nine athlete at the start of which seven have completed the race and 2 DNF
Detaidel report by Tim Erickson
A maximum of 28oC meant potentially tough conditions for walkers in the 2015 Australian 50km championship meet on Sunday 13th December but the 7AM start time and the superbly shaded 2km course at Fawkner Park (rated as easily the best course in Australia and the favourite one for many of the walkers) meant that the contenders were afforded every chance of a good time. And respond they did - 39 walkers, 18 PBs, 3 national records, 11 Olympic Qualifiers, 4 World Junior Qualifiers and 6 World Cup Qualifiers. That makes this meet the highest quality racewalking carnival ever seen in Australia outside the 2000 Olympics and confirms something we already knew – racewalking is Australia's strongest T&F discipline.
Of the 8 starters at the Australian 50km Road Walking Championships in Melbourne on Sunday, the aim for most of them was to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard. But a trio of athletes achieved more than that. Winner Evan Dunfee smashed the Canadian record by more than three minutes, clocking 3:43:45. Second-place finisher Chris Erickson bagged another national title. And Marc Mundell in third broke his own African record.
Held on a two-kilometre loop in Fawkner Park, the race got underway with a steady start. World 20km bronze medallist Ben Thorne was treating the race as a training exercise and built up a significant early lead before withdrawing after eight laps. At 10km, Dunfee was already two minutes ahead of a chasing pack which comprised defending champion Erickson, Pan American Games silver medallist Inaki Gomez of Canada, Australia’s Ian Rayson and South African Olympian Mundell.
The Pan American champion continued to churn out the sub-nine-minute laps and he reached 20km in just a shade outside 90 minutes with a lead of more than four minutes. Having covered the first half in 1:52:22, Dunfee knew with 25km left that he was on course to break the Canadian record of 3:47:48 that had stood to Marcel Jobin since 1981, nine years before Dunfee was born. Dunfee maintained his pace in the second half, while Gomez, Mundell and Erickson were still level at half way, followed closely by Rayson. But that chase pack began to break up just before 30km as Erickson sped up, leaving behind Gomez and Mundell.
With less than a third of the race remaining, Dunfee was getting quicker. So too was Erickson, although he was more than six minutes adrift of the leader, but Gomez – making his debut over the distance – had drifted from third to fifth. Dunfee went through the 40km checkpoint comfortably inside three hours and he kept up the swift pace to the end, winning in 3:43:45. As well as smashing the Canadian record and easily achieving the Canadian federation’s 3:54:20 qualifying standard for Rio, the 25-year-old took more than six minutes off the PB he set when finishing 12th at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015.
“Last month in Australia here I’ve been training in a supernova study down in Canberra,” said Dunfee, who finished second in this race last year in what was then a PB of 3:58:34. “I’m in really good shape, so I knew I was ready for a big one. I wasn’t sure whether it would be a hard or fast race really, so I didn’t really make my decision until about 3km into the race and I thought I’d go for it. I’m really happy with it and it felt really good. I think there’s a bit more in the tank there when push comes to shove. I’ve taken 14 minutes off my PB this year; another 14 minutes and we’re good! This course is so easy to walk on, it’s by far my favourite course,” he added. “It makes it so much easier to get into a rhythm and keep it.”
When asked which distance is his favourite, Dunfee – who finished 12th in both events in Beijing – suggested that he’ll continue to divide his time between the 20km and 50km. “Jared (Tallent) has proved that you can do both,” he said. “I like both, they’re different challenges. After losing my 20km record to Ben in Beijing, I wanted a bit of redemption. I wanted to get the 50km record in Beijing but I sort of blew up at 42km. So I came in here and smashed it and it felt great. I’m happy to get one Canadian record back.”
Erickson – who finished one place behind Dunfee in the 50km in Beijing earlier this year – successfully defended his national title with a time of 3:54:10, booking his spot on what will be his third Olympic team. Mundell was close behind in third place in 3:54:12, breaking the African record he set at the London 2012 Olympics.
What the report does not mention is the wonderful battle between Australians Ian Rayson and Brendon Reading. After trailing for the entire race, Brendon finally caught and passed Ian with one lap to to, storming home for a 24 minute PB of 3:55:03 and raising the ante for the third Australian Olympic 50km berth behind Jared Tallent and Chris Erickson. The other performance that must be mentioned is that of Danny Hawksworth who had to dig deep to beat the 5 hour cutoff mark in his first ever 50km, his final time of 4:58:30 a fitting finish.
The 20km races also produced a whole swathe of PBs and top performances. In the men's race, Quentin Rew walked strongly for an Olympic qualifying time of 1:22:28, with Rhydian Cowley only just 1 minute outside his PB in second place with 1:24:35. But it was 30 year old Michael Hosking who provided the most amazing stat of the meet. A walker as a youngster, he retired 15 years ago as a 15 year old and has not racewalked since. With 3 months of walk training in his legs, he not only finished – he finished third in 1:26:16 and is now a serious Olympic and World Cup contender. I wonder if such a thing has ever been seen before anywhere!
In the women's 20km, 2012 Olympian Regan Lamble walked her third Olympic Qualifier in just over 3 months and her fastest yet, her time of 1:30:45, only 42 secs outside her London 2012 PB. After a 3 year break, she has stormed back onto the scene with a vengeance. The revelation in this race was Stephanie Stigwood who took over 3 minutes off her PB for second with 1:32:22 – and she looked fantastic! Alana Barber (NZ record of 1:32:50), Rachel Tallent (1:34:16) and Tanya Holliday (1:34:56) also pushed out Olympic qualifiers while Nicole Fagan was one second under the World Cup qualifying mark with her time of 1:37:59. Not to be outdone, Kristie Goznick also PB'd with her time of 1:41:37.
The Juniors were also in great form with Australian World Junior Championship qualifiers to Tyler Jones (42:48), Kyle Swan (43:01), Adam Garganis (43:03) and Zoe Hunt (47:41) and World Cup qualifiers to Declan Tingay (44;14), Carl Gibbon (44:32) and Emmet Brasier (46:24). Add in some other top juniors who were missing from the mix and we have the making of some great trial races later in the summer.
With the younger walkers resting after last weekend's Australian All-School Championships, the U18 5km, saw only 3 walkers, all of them very young. Eliza Clarke led them home with 25:53 ahead of Corey Dickson 26:28 and Hayden Walmsley 27:11.
Tim Erickson
(photos by Facebook)
Full results of all events could be download in the section Results or directly from this link: click here
Photo album by Ralph Bennet (AUS): click here
Chris Erickson second, but Australian Champion, in 3:54:10
Regan Lamble winner of 20km in 1:30:45