Normally Marcia dal Mondo does not report local news on race walking in Australia, leaving the heading "Heel and Toe" of our friend and correspondent Tim Erickson this task.
In fact Tim Erickson publish each week in our section "Race Walking in the World," a weekly newsletter, which not only shows reports and results of international events but also is characterized by giving our readers the local news that otherwise would not be easy to get.
We sincerely thank Tim Erickson for this cooperation which has lasted for years. But today, the result of the first page of the latest issue of Heel and Toe is too impressive for not devote adequate visibility: we are sure that we would hear about Katie Hayward in the future. For now we offer our readers a brief report by Tim Erickson.
For the second time in 3 weeks, Queensland walker Katie Hayward obtains a splendid result.
On Sunday morning (Sep. 23, 2016) in Brisbane, she won the Queensland All Schools U18 5000m walk in a huge PB of 21:39.03.
Katie, who only turned 16 three months ago, leads the U18 World Rankings and looks set for a wonderful walk in the 2017 World Youth Champs if she can keep this sort of momentum going.
Consider her 5000m walks over the last few months:
22:55 Qld Roadwalk May 29, 2016
23:05.45 Gold Coast Down Under T&F Champs July 07, 2016
23:27 Aths Qld U18 5km Championship July 31, 2016
22:18.74 South Coast T&F Trials September 09, 2016
22:23.87 Gold Coast PB Meet October 19, 2016
21:39.03 Queensland All Schools Championships October 23, 2016
This latest performance easily betters Natalie Saville’s Australian U18 5000m walk record of 22:11.33 (Sydney, March 02, 1995) and is only 5 secs outside Natalie’s Australian U20 5000m walk record of 21:34.23 (Melbourne, March 01, 1997).
The time of 21:39:03 is by far the world's best performance of the year U18 on the distance of 5.000m track walk (the previous belonged always to the same athlete with the time of 23: 05:45).
And she has 3 more years in which to attack that U20 record. The sky’s the limit with Katie!
Katie Hayward