757 December 2005 £2.00 Niobe Menéndez Interviewed 3 Do Britain’s young race walkers have the X Factor? 7 Results 10 Letters 18 Fixtures 19 www.racewalkingrecord.com A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. Lao-tzu. The milepost of 1000 days to the Beijing 2008 Olympics was passed this month, and with the 2012 London Games only four years further ahead British Athletics will be under increasing pressure to improve. UK Athletics new Performance Director Dave Collins hosted a series of public meetings on 17-27 October 2005 to explain how he thinks his Performance Pathway will help athletes deemed capable of achieving podium / top eight placings at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Collins, the former Marine and professor of physical education and sports performance who became UK Athletics’ performance director in March, is responsible for making sure British athletes win medals at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012. Collins was a controversial choice, having no previous coaching experience ‘The medal targets appear modest enough’, he said ‘five in Beijing and eight in London’. A stated aim of getting British athletes into 50% of the finals in London is more ambitious. He didn’t mince his words when it comes his impression of some of the coaches he's met. ‘Those guys who reckon they know everything are brain dead. Take them away and turn them into meat pies.’ he said. According to Dave Collins, there is need for action. There are athletes on funding who have gone slower year on year for the last three years.’ If I was the coach, I would have asked myself, “Am I doing everything right?” If I was the athlete, I would have asked myself, “Am I doing everything I can?” If I was an administrator involved with the athlete and coach, I would have asked myself, “Am I doing all I can?” Because someone must be doing something not right for the athlete to be going slower for three successive years.’ As a result of the shake-up, UK Athletics has appointed Performance Managers to focus solely on helping athletes with a chance of achieving top 8 performances at World or Olympic level. Among the 'PMs' appointed is 1992 Olympic 50m walker Martin Rush who will cover the in the South of England. Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland Teams for competitions such as the IAAF Race Walking Championships will be funded from sources other than the World Class Performance budget. There seemed to be a degree of mental frailty in the GBR team at the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki this summer, not helped by the simplistic 'hero or zero' press coverage and quotes from Dave Collins in which he came across as something of a bully using words sports editors wanted to hear, rather than strengthening team morale. Nevertheless in his presentation (linked from the UKA and RWR site of 14 December 2005) offer some solid pointers for aspiring coaches and athletes His Athlete Performance Template (APT) offers a standardised format for evaluating the performance and/or potential of athletes. He also reminds us ‘what sport is all about: ambition, competition, and achievement’. The Race Walking Association’s AGM on 4 December in Birmingham will vote on the position of RWA President for its crucial period leading up to the EAA European Cup of Race Walking at Leamington Spa in 2007. Debate can also be expected in the Foster Report about the future structure of athletics. Obviously the structure is important but should negotiated past as quickly as possible. The RWA says it will be working on a Development Plan, but matters that should be worked on (one step at a time) are integrating the competitive structure of the events as much as possible within the rest of athletics, raising the standards in coaching and elsewhere, and concentrating wholeheartedly - to paraphrase Dave Collins simple mantra - on encouraging our athletes to walk faster. Published by Tim Watt Editor Tim Watt, 10b Belvedere Drive, Wimbledon, SW19 7BY, 020 7871 4562, [email protected] Subscriptions UK £25, Europe £35; Elsewhere £50 Printing Wests, Steyning Distribution Editor Advertisements Full page £40; half page £20; quarter page £10 Club advertisements (payment with copy please) Full page £20; half page £12;quarter page £7 All articles and photographs by the editor unless stated. Photo reprints available on request. www.racewalkingrecord.com UK Merit Rankings For Walks 2005, by Peter Matthews 3 This is the 38th successive year that I have compiled annual merit rankings of British athletes – an assessment of form during the season. The major factors by which the rankings are determined are win-loss record, performances in major meetings, and sequence of marks. If have missed any performances, I would be very pleased to receive any missing results at 10 Madgeways Close, Great Amwell, Herts SG12 9RU. On the first line is shown the athlete’s name, then their date of birth followed, in brackets, by the number of years ranked (including 2005) and their ranking last year (2004), and finally, their best mark prior to 2005. 20 KILOMETRES WALK 1 Daniel King 30.5.83 (3y, 1) 1:27:51 ’04 Daniel King 1= Coventry 1:29:37, 27 La Coruña 1:31:37, 1 RWA 1:32:55, 37 Rio Maior 1:33:10, finishing the RWA 20km dq Leamington 2 Andrew Penn 31.3.67 (15y, 4) 1:23:34 ’92 6 Dublin 1:29:13, 2 RWA 1:33:55 3 Dominic King 30.5.83 (4y, 2) 1:27:52 ’04 1 Leamington 1:29:21, 1= Coventry 1:29:37, 30 Rio Maior 1:30:41, dq, ECp, Dublin, RWA 4 Steve P artington 17.9.65 (18y, 6) 1:24:18 ’90 1 Douglas 1:30:20, 1 Manx 1:31:20, 1 Douglas (11/9) 1:31:42, dnf Leamington 5 Andi Drake 6.2.65 (13y, 3) 1:24:04.0t ’90 2 Douglas 1:32:55, dnf L eamington, dq RWA 6 Peter K aneen 12.7.61 (2y, -) 1:35:24 ’03 3 Douglas 1:34:52, 2 Douglas (11/9) 1:36:59, 2 Manx 1:37:18 There is again no British walker remotely near my international class (world top 150) standard of 1:25:00 and only eight men broke 1:40, the fewest since 1963. December 2005 www.racewalkingrecord.com 4 Niobe Menéndez, interviewed by Steve Hollis 50 KILOMETRES WALK 1 Steve P artington 17.9.65 (4y, 1) 4:26:06 ’04 3 Dublin 4:17:40, 12 Dudince 4:23:51 2 Peter K aneen 12.7.61 (5y, 2) 4:31:31 ’04 5 Nordic 4:30:26, 14 Dudince 4:31:43, dnf Dublin 3 Scott Davis 3.4.75 (1y, -) 1 RWA 4:47:34 4 Steve Hollier 27.2.76 (6y, -) 4:07:18 ’00 6 Dublin 4:55:04 Partington and Kaneen retain their top two rankings. Cut-off for world lists is 4:10. WOMEN’S WALKS Priority is given to form at the standard international distance of 20 kilometres, although performances at other distances are also taken into account. 3000m and 5000m performances are on the track, unless indicated by R for road marks (+ indicates intermediate time). All distances from 10k up are on the road unless shown by t. Previous bests are shown for track 5000m and road or track 10km and 20km. (B) indicates in event not held under full IAAF definition of walking. 1 Johanna Jackson 17.1.85 (2y, 7) 24:43.68 ’04, 50:02 ’04, 0 3000m: 1 CAU 13:22.23, 13:32+, 1 IA 13:37.85, 14:10.2+ 5000m: 1 U23 Int 22:46.07, 1 AAA-23 22:55.89, 1 AAA 23:34.12; 1 Cudworth 23:16.86, 1 Sheffield 24:00.2, 1 North 24:50.38; 1 Nth 24:12R 10km: 1 RWA 48:37, 1 York 49:02 (B), 1 Bradford 49:35, 51:53 (B) 20km: 3 Leamington 1:43:07, 4 RWA 1:48:41, 46 ECp 1:53:34 2 Niobe Menendez 1.9.66 (7y, 1) 23:46.30 ’01, 46:38 ’02, 1:39:59 ’02 3000m: 14:02.74+ 5000m: 2 AAA 24:00.37 10km: 51:34+R; dq Spanish 20km: 2 Leamington 1:42:47, 6 RWA 1:56:01, dnf L a Coruña 3 K atie Stones 22.11.85 (4y, 8) 24:17.00 ’04, 50:29 ’04, 0 3000m: 14:21.9+ 5000m: 3 AAA 24:03.61, 2 AAA-23 24:16.72, 4 U23 Int 24:18.18 10km: 2 RWA 51:41, 53:18+ 20km: 2 (1) RWA 1:46:48, dnf Dublin 4 Sara- Jane Cattermole 29.1.77 (7y, 3) 24:16.0 '97, 47:05 ‘01, 1:36:40 '00 5000m: 24:57.5; 23:44+, 23:48+, 24:16+ 10km: 48:02, 48:24, 49:43mx, 53:23, 6 Aus Challenge 53:46 20km: 1:38:00, 1:40:00, 1:40:21, 1:41:42, 1:43:41, 1 NZ Ch 1:54:07, dnf RWA Race Walking Record www.racewalkingrecord.com 4 Niobe Menéndez, interviewed by Steve Hollis 5 Sharon Tonks 18.4.70 (8y, 10) 24:05.49 ’02, 48:40 ’02, 1:43:29 ‘02 3000m: 1 Stourport 14:05.2, 3 CAU 14:06.15, 14:28.8; 14:09.75i mx, 14:12.7i 5km: 1 Mid 24:17.7, 5 AAA 25:09.89; 2 Mid 24:11R, 1 Coventry 25:07R 10km: 52:54+ 20km: 2 Douglas 1:46:06, 24 La Coruña 1:49:45, dnf L eamington, Coventry, RW A 6 K atherine Horwill 26.1.75 (5y, 2) 24:54.88 ’04, 49:38 ’99, 1:46:35 ’04 3000m: 13:53.79; 13:56.97i mx; 2 CAU 5000m: 2 Mid 24:37.4, 6 AAA 25:29.04; 1 Mid 24:01R 10km: 1 Coventry 52:18, 52:51+ 20km: 4 Leamington 1:45:58, 3 Douglas 1:47:50, dnf B’ham, L a Coruña, Coventry, RW A 7 Lisa K ehler 15.3.67 (19y, -) 1:33:57 ’00 20km: 1 Coventry 1:45:23, 5 RWA 1:52:33 8 Rebecca Mersh 28.1.89 (2y, 6) 24:44.31 ’04, 50:45 ’04 3000m: 1 Yorks, 14:13.5mx, 14:23.21mx, 1 E .Sch-I 14:29.09, 6 CA U 14:36.77, 14:50.6+; 1415R; 14:28.70+i 5000m: 2 Sheffield 24:06.6, 17 WY 25:21.79, 3 AAA-J 25:32.85, 2 AAA-17 25:57.64 10km: 1 Leamington 51:38, Vic.Pk 51:51, 3 RWA 53:11, 4 E .Colne 54:56, dq ECp -J 9 Marie L atham 18.10.60 (1y, -) 54:54 ’04, 1:54:09 ’04 10km: 53:51 20km: 6 Leamington 1:50:56, 4 Douglas 1:53:16, 1 Douglas (11/9) 1:54:51, dnf Dublin 10 Verity Snook 13.11.70 (10y, -) 3000m: 2 Sth IC 14:46.95; 10km: 2 Leicester 55:14 20km: 2 Coventry 1:49:40 11 Sophie Hales 30.3.85 (4y, 5) 24:19.06 ’02, 49:40 ’04 3000m: 5 CAU 14:28.28, 1 Sth IC 14:43.87, 14:49.20mx 5km: 24:01 10km: 1 Imber Court 52:50 nr Estle Viljoen RSA 8.7.70 24:15.04 ’03, 48:36 ’04, 1:42:14 ’03 3000m: 4 CAU 14:14.24, 14:30.0+; 5km: 4 AAA 24:19.82 10km: 1 Leicester 50:40; 20km: 3 RWA 1:47:20 Jackson maintained her rapid improvement to take top ranking, clearly best at the shorter distances.