Whats good about the racewalk?

The olympics loads up on crap events to make the good events look better.

In the 19th century they did competitive walking right, someone would go out and keep walking for a month, or a year, and go thousands of miles until they dropped dead. It was very popular.

whytho? wrote:

Does anybody really like the racewalk? Like actually? I cannot envision much motivation or excitement to join track and field following a racewalk event... Please tell me appealing features of this 'race'! Would be happy to find a reason to like this event!

It is not (necessarily) about entertainment. It is a very worthy event from a competitor's point of view, and an Olympic or national championship event gives motivation for people training for that. Many people would be better off racewalking than running; it is equally good cardiovascularly, but with significantly less impact. In particular, it's not like cycling where one has to spend much more time to obtain similar training compared to running; racewalking is equally tough. People often find that there is a lower threshold for going for a walk vs run, e.g. when it is very cold.

People with slightly different body types can be very good at racewalking, in particular it often rewards body types that are more muscular than runners; one does not necessarily need the very thin but strong 'East African' type build that top runners almost universally have these days. It also often rewards more rounded athletes, who would typically be good at many sports, as it requires co-ordination.

Partly as a consequence of this, many countries have athletes who have medalled or otherwise done well in the racewalk who have not had success in other track and field events, and racewalking is often popular in these countries.

It is a great event to compete in; to dismiss it because it 'looks strange' is incredibly shallow.

While I'm at it, let me also say the race walking technique is not some esoteric thing: if you just walk and land on your heel, you will be racewalking. Take short, quick steps (which necessitates a limited, low, quick arm swing), and you will be able to obtain a decent pace.

Most people can ignore the straight leg rule: a few people cannot straighten the leg at all, but otherwise walking and landing on the heel is more or less impossible without a straight leg. And unless you are advanced you can ignore the 'one foot on the ground' rule as well; you will not be able to walk fast enough to begin with to come close to violating this.

After a few weeks, if you have some co-ordination, most people's technique will naturally improve rapidly and allow them to walk faster and get the heart rate up.

Nothing.

It seems a very artificial sport. I don't even think race walkers train all the time race walking. They run as well. I can't say I have ever seen anybody training like that.

Bad Wigins wrote:

In the 19th century they did competitive walking right, someone would go out and keep walking for a month, or a year, and go thousands of miles until they dropped dead. It was very popular.

I think that is a little bit exaggerated. They had 6 day races at that time and a very few went u to 1000 miles.

Frank Shorter here wrote:

It seems a very artificial sport. I don't even think race walkers train all the time race walking. They run as well. I can't say I have ever seen anybody training like that.

Walking is artificial? If you wish to walk fast, you end up with the race walking technique.

As for running in training, I suppose runners never cross-train? I suppose cross-country skiers never run as part of their training?

Elite race walkers do only a relatively tiny amount of running (but are still able to run at a very good level off the race walking training). It is perfectly possible to race walk well without running in training.

Let’s face it. Race walking is the most awkward and embarrassing event in all of sport. It’s unnatural and looks ridiculous. Just RUN.

You have to admit that the race walk equipment is radically awesome.

No one would dare yell at you from their car.

https://media.balls.ie/uploads/2016/03/30220437/hal-aero-helmet.jpg

whytho? wrote:

Does anybody really like the racewalk? Like actually? I cannot envision much motivation or excitement to join track and field following a racewalk event... Please tell me appealing features of this 'race'! Would be happy to find a reason to like this event!

Tell me about it! I went to a track meet and saw some really fast people race a straightaway in less than 10 seconds and that was exciting! Then some slightly less fast dudes ran a full lap and that was pretty cool. Then some similar guys did a full lap while jumping over stuff and that was entertaining. Then, it got really boring. They kept having races for progressively slower people over two laps, then 3 3/4 laps (WTF?), then 12 1/2 laps (WTF again?), and the 25 laps (Why?). After a while. I started thinking that this must be a Special Olympics type thing and they have to have longer and slower races for the less talented people. Maybe it's some kind of inclusiveness thing?

Anyway, I went home and watched some real sports on ESPN. I noticed that basketball doesn't lower the baskets for short people and that football does not set aside a quarter for malnourished weaklings to play. I can't see any reason to watch track unless they only have sprinters. I bet a bunch of those guys might be good running backs and wide receivers if they applied themselves!

I agree track over 800M is not much fun to watch. I have to DVR it and fast forward through field events during the 5000 and 10000. Sometimes even during a sit and kick 10000.

I’ve never watched more than a few minutes of race walking in the Olympics. It is a very strange sport. However, the results are pretty impressive. They walk faster than most people outside of LRC can run for the distance.

whytho? wrote:

Does anybody really like the racewalk? Like actually? I cannot envision much motivation or excitement to join track and field following a racewalk event... Please tell me appealing features of this 'race'! Would be happy to find a reason to like this event!

The Russian race walkers love it because the judges are afraid to disqualify them.

Clearly none of you have seen higher level competitors like Spain's Daniel Plaza, or even Tim Seaman or Philip Dunn.

Some of the best racewalkers can WALK a sub 20 5k

When I was permanently injured and couldn't run anymore I took up racewalking (after a couple years, when I'd gotten to the point where I could again do regular walking with little or no limp).

I'll be honest and admit that in the ~100,000 miles I've walked since then, only once--and just for a few seconds, before the road changed gradient--did I have the "flowing" sensation that I'd routinely had as a runner, and that made running so addictive for me.

That said: I was a lousy racewalker (and had stunk as a runner, before that). Among other things, I had/have trouble straightening my legs, which means trouble staying legal; I was never DQed, probably because the judges realized I was no threat to win anything and thought, If he wants to do 50km of this, let him. In my case, the faster I went, the smoother and more legal I became, and this gave me a clue that the folks with truly good technique might well develop that "flow" and get real pleasure from their walking.

I was fortunate to compete with some high-level walkers, including a couple of teammates who were ranked top-ten in the US, so can verify that some of them did indeed have the muscular bodies that were mentioned above--considerably more mesomorphic than the typical distance runner. And, also as mentioned above, a lot of them were just "athletic" and had backgrounds in multiple sports and other t&f events. Quite a few had been hurdlers for some reason--maybe because that flexibility and kinesthetic sense were assets in walking.

All of *that* said: As a racewalker I did qualify for some big (to me) meets and got some free clothing and meals/lodging, which I never would have as a runner. And it gave me a chance to compete again and feel vaguely like an athlete. I still walk the occasional marathon and find that I'm competitive with some of the runners in my age group. I probably wouldn't go across the street to watch a walking race, but the same is true for any other sport including t&f--I'm just not a sports fan.

Literally no "elite" racewalkers are legitimately walking; everyone of them somehow fool the judges into believing they have contact with the ground at all times.

America's fury wrote:

Literally no "elite" racewalkers are legitimately walking; everyone of them somehow fool the judges into believing they have contact with the ground at all times.

It's a judged sport and has its conventions. Similarly, in the NBA (and international play, it seems) you get to take the extra step when shooting; and in gymnastics you get to "cheat" on certain movements and get credit for them. What counts is that the judging be consistent.

Frank Shorter here wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

In the 19th century they did competitive walking right, someone would go out and keep walking for a month, or a year, and go thousands of miles until they dropped dead. It was very popular.

I think that is a little bit exaggerated. They had 6 day races at that time and a very few went u to 1000 miles.

Try 1000 miles, in 1000 hours, for 1000 bucks! Admittedly he didn't die.

Didn’t you read it? He didn’t win deer. He won very small pigs.

Re previous comment: "Most people can ignore the straight leg rule: a few people cannot straighten the leg at all, but otherwise walking and landing on the heel is more or less impossible without a straight leg. And unless you are advanced you can ignore the 'one foot on the ground' rule as well; you will not be able to walk fast enough to begin with to come close to violating this."

The above comment is total crapolla (spelling?). Although I 'only' won three well judged national racewalk championship races up to the 50Km (team and individual titles) in the late 1970s and early 1980s (four if you count an AAU National "B" title in 1977), I can attest from experience that you can indeed legally achieve decent speed when racewalking.

I will add that it is abundantly clear that there may be more cheats among the top racewalking now than were involved in the sport 40 years ago.

Now to answer the question, "Does anyone actually like the racewalk?" Hard call - I put in 80-100 mile weeks on end and sacrificed a lot of other more 'pleasurable' activites to do so. I will put it this way, racewalking in general is a lot more strenuous and difficult than running well is or ever was - btw, I have been running and racing for 48 years averaging about 2,500 miles per year for the entire time; Winning outright my fair share of races from the 5km up to marathons and ultras. Was that fun? Sure sometimes but a lot of hard work - like in racewalking.

So to distill down my answer. Racing at a top level in Canada, Europe and throughout the US, attending a training the Olympic Training in Colorado Springs, and winning so titles, yes it was fun and I liked it. I took the sport as far as I could, then reverted back to running.

Yes, I really like the walks. They're endurance events and I much prefer watching endurance events to speed events. And they're something different which to me is interesting. Finally, race walking is a lot harder than it looks but you need to have at least a semi serious go at it to appreciate that.