RACE WALKING
One of the
Greats
Barbara Nell in action for Central Gauteng at the SA Masters Champs
The South African team heading to Tampere , Finland at the end of June for the 2022 World Masters Athletics Championships ( WMAC ) will include a number of race walkers , so what better time to catch up with Barbara Nell , one of the country ’ s all-time great race walkers ? – BY PAM IMMELMAN
The last time South Africa sent a team of Masters athletes to Finland , in 2009 , they came back with a bucketload of medals , including a healthy number won by the race walkers in the team . Amongst the medallists was Barbara Nell , and she looks back fondly on those Champs . “ I think the best overall Masters race walking results we had were in the Championships in Italy in 2007 and Finland in 2009 . We had a large group of SA walkers at each of these events , winning lots of individual and team medals , and in Finland , our walkers won seven individual medals and seven team medals .”
Unfortunately , Barbara ( 67 ) will not be going to WMACs this year , as she is currently out of race walking for health reasons – she has not raced since the South African Masters Athletics Champs ( SAMA ) in 2018 , and she is no longer coaching at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg – but she continues to inspire the race walkers of South Africa – both young and old – thanks to her incredible track record in the sport . After all , she currently holds no less than nine SA Records !
Glory Days Begin
Barbara ’ s career in race walking really took off in 1995 . “ At the age of 40 , I was selected to be part of the SA team at the 16th Race Walking World Cup that April in Beijing China , and I was then awarded my Protea colours . In that same season , I was awarded my SA Masters colours and attended my first World Masters Athletics Championships in Buffalo , New York in the USA ,” she recalls .
Barbara Nell with SA Masters teammates Lesley van Buuren ( left ) and Monica Risk ( right )
various SA Race-walking teams at various WMAC meets , I also won several gold , silver and bronze medals .”
Setting Records
Back home , Barbara set the World Masters 5000m Race Walk record in the 40-plus age category at the 2000 SAMA Championships in Oudtshoorn , clocking a time of 24:14 . “ In total , I set 18 SA Masters Records during my time as a Masters athlete , and I also won various age group race walking events at SAMA Championships on 33 occasions . In addition , I won a gold medal at the SA Provincial Masters Championships 47 times , and I still hold nine SAMA records .”
It all makes for an incredibly impressive race walking CV , and no surprise that this humble legend of the sport is featured in Leo Benning ’ s book , For the Love of It , which contains wonderful stories of SA Masters Athletes and their awesome achievements . Anybody with an interest in the history of SA Race Walking would do well to give it a read .
Thank you to Pam Immelman , Secretary of Central Gauteng Masters Athletics , for supplying the basis of this article .
In Action in Finland
The SA Team taking part in the 2022 World Masters Athletics Championships in Tampere , Finland includes several race walkers . On the first ay of the Champs , 29 June , Ronelle Botha and Celeste Scheepers will be in action in the women ’ s 60-plus 5000m , while Edna Brand will race in the W-70 category and Hildegard Vey in the W-80 Age Groups . Their second race will follow on 3 July in the women ’ s 10km . The only Male race walker in the Team , Marquard Pellissier ( M-45 ), will be competing in the 10km race walk event on 3 July .
Celeste Scheepers
Marquard Pellissier
“ In the end I raced for 21 years , with the initial seven years in the Senior category , and thereafter in the Masters category . As a Senior athlete , I won four SA Senior Track and Field Championships titles , and five SA Senior Road Walk Championships titles . I was the first woman in Africa to walk sub-1:50 for a 20km in 1996 , and I subsequently broke the 20km African Record once again in 1998 , in Naumburg , Germany , with a time of 1:43:32 . I set four Senior SA Records during my career , and my race walking PBs are 14:51.47 for 3000m , 23:44 for 5000m , 47:53 for 10km and 1:58:11 for the half marathon .”
On top of all that success , Barbara enjoyed still more success as a Masters athlete , notably at the 11 WMAC meets she attended from 1995 to 2016 . “ I won 14 World Championships titles over various distances – 5000m , 10km and 20km – as well earning as four silver and three bronze medals . Furthermore , as a member of
Images : Courtesy SAMA
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