Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 116, March 2019 | Page 47

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WALK
THIS
WAY
By Anel Oosthuizen
GOING TO THE RACES
What an eventful start to my 2019 season it has been,
including walking two races on the road. Of course, as a race
walker, the questions that are often raised around road races
are which races are walker-friendly, which have proper race
walking judges, and of course, which have prize money for
race walkers?
L
ooking back at February, I
can claim a season’s best
for my first real racing 10km
– on quite a hilly route, too – and
a personal best for 21.1km at the
Cango Half Marathon, clocking
in at an official time of 1:42:32. I
had such awesome races at both,
with the weather being perfect.
I was also quite happy with my
overall performance, as one race
was a night race, and the other
had an early start. As in, waking
up at 3am to go to the race kind
of early! (I realised a long time
ago that I should not tell my non-
athletic friends about early starts,
as I have been called crazy one
too many times...)
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race walkers must maintain technique, and doing so perfectly on an extreme
uphill or downhill is almost impossible. That is why the routes for World
Champs, Olympic and World Cup race walking events are flat. However, this
does not mean that I do not do hilly races at all. I like a challenge, and the
hills do make us stronger. The other thing that I look for is a race on tarred
roads, because race walking on a gravel road is quite difficult. Race walkers
need to have some sort of grip with the toe-off, and having loose gravel
under your feet is not ideal.
Race walking judges: This is not a priority when deciding whether to enter
a race or not, but I’d like to discuss this one because very few people know
that there are actually supposed to be race walking judges with every race
that has race walking category prize winners. I strongly encourage this as
well, because from previous experience I have learnt that not all people abide
by the rules. This can be avoided by having race walking judges on board at
a race.
Prize money: I tend to do races that have prize money for race walkers,
instead of those that don’t. It’s not only for the financial benefit, but more
because I feel race organisers should encourage race walking.
Distance Counts
I also tend to avoid travelling too far for road races that I will just be doing for
training purposes, and obviously, I also look at the actual distance of the race. My
typical choices for road racing distances are 10km and 20/21.1km. Discussing this
with a runner friend of mine, we agreed that race walking is more commonly part of
road races now than was the case 10 years ago when I started racing as a young
girl.
Back then, I remember being the only under-12 girl doing race walking in the
whole of George, and race walking was not even on our Provincial Championships
programme. In fact, most people did not know what race walking was, including
my own dear Mom and Dad, so they did not know what it was when I came home
after the first day of my race walking career, telling them that “a lady told me that I
had big talent for race walking.”
Getting strange looks from people back then was a general thing, and even today
some people frown upon it, having a total misconception about the sport, but race
walking is definitely on the rise, with more races catering for the race walkers.
PS: Super well done to everyone who participated in my race walking challenge
on social media! Had so much fun, and was quite amazed by some of the videos
of attempted race walking! Special shout out to Modern Athlete Editor, Sean
Falconer, for being such a sport and attempting it himself!
These races made me realise
once again that the running and
walking community share such a
passion for living a healthy, active
and positive lifestyle. Every time I
arrive at a race, I get this excitement within me that is hard to describe to someone
who has never participated in one before. It’s the vibe, the people, and the fact that
everyone is there with one ultimate goal, to compete and finish the race to the best
of their ability. And once you compete in a road race, the bug is bound to bite you!
Choosing My Races
It’s actually quite simple how I choose which races to enter: Eeny, meeny, miny,
moe... No, just kidding, but most people don’t realise that as a race walker, there
are quite a few things I look at before entering a race:
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Route profile: I have looked at countless profile of races, to see whether they
are walker-friendly or not. Very hilly routes are not on top of my list because
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Race Walker Anel Oosthuizen is a multiple SA
Champion and Record Holder, and represented SA in the women’s 20km at the
2016 Rio Olympics.
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