GBT Newsletter Autumn | Page 6

Sports & Interests Race Walking—by Genevieve Gorski Parker There’s got to be a way to go faster right? I competed against/with Ted at the 17th Annual Glen Iris 5km in 2012. Granted I usually walk but what’s 5km when I’m used to 21.1km half marathons so I mostly ran. I came in at 43:58 which put me in 96rd place overall (races are measured by start clock time, gender, bib time – when your number crosses the start and finish line and age category). Runners pace themselves to run at most for 10 minutes and then walk for 1 minute. I tried it, and it was hard – no make that really hard. But I gave it a go and thought I was faster but it wasn’t the way I wanted to be faster. After that race I did the MidSummer Nights Run in Toronto and saw a participant doing these figure 8 loops at the start and she had a really wide stride. She was stretching from the hips instead of trying to propel with the knees to get her stride. She wore an Ontario Racewalker jersey and so I made a note after the race to find out what that was about. She seemed fast and that was just a warm up. I finished in 2:13:47 in 102nd and she did in 1:40:06 and in 1st place. I called up the club and they said sure come out and learn how to race walk. I was hooked by this change in technique! I was going fast – not just kind of fast but really, really fast. And it was much easier than trying to run. I did the Mid-Summer Nights Run again this year and finished in 2:12:27 in 59th place but the real test was when I entered the Ontario Race Walking Championships and finished in 40:06. Usually you only take off a maximum of 1 minute off your time but I was completely amazed to take off over 3 minutes! I discovered that working hard sometimes only gets you part of the way there – the other part is finding a better way to do it. My racing season is over until the spring but I can feel an under 40 minute 5km I just need to find Rebecca Dzudz at her Roller a better way to Derby game with her team, the get rid of those Border City Brawlers. 6 seconds! Have a special occasion or event happen recently? Share it with us! ? Special Birthday or Anniversary ? New addition to your family ? Sporting events ? Special interests Send your photos & details to Jen Brodie [email protected] Erin Talbot’s daughters, Ella & Avery, with a Disney Princess at Disney World 6 The Rohrer boys are ready to “Play Ball!” 2 Generations of Szczesnys’