I agree that racewalking distances would appear more legit if the distances involved were greater then the marathon distance. Olympic events and the athletes who participate in them should be awe-inspiring. A 19.32 second 200m...Someone throwing a javalin almost 100m. 1:41.11 800m...A man jumping 28+ feet. A 3:43 mile. Running 6.2 miles at sub 4:20 pace. Running 4:45 miles for a marathon. An 8 foot high jump. Walking a mile in 5:38 (the American record). (um, no)
What other sports can you compete in at a national level with a gut? Bowling? Croquet? World of Warcraft?
Can you imagine the commentary of a mile racewalk..."And here he comes off the turn, he's broken away from the lead pack and is absolutely flying. , look at that man walk! here comes the bell lap...wait for it...wait for it...ok theres the bell He's split 41 seconds for the penultimate 200m he's still charging...look at that speed and explosiveness...absolutely perfect form, looks like a wounded duck with a baton shoved up its ass...and he wins it with a blazing last 200m of 40.2 seconds"
A man walking 30 miles or a hundred miles would impress me. A man walking a mile, however quickly, is lame.
Next they're gonna have the 100m walk-and fans would still get bored in the middle of it.
Racewalking, triathlons and ultra's have something in common. All three of them have extremely dedicated atheletes at the top of their sports that I have the upmost respect for (Mark Allen, Scott Tinley, Scott Jurek, Jefferson Perez). They have found their niche and had the work ethic do excel in them.
Then after them are a bunch of people who think that running 50 miles at a 12 min/mile pace is the hardest thing in running or that racewalking a mile in 6 minutes is harder then running one in 4 flat. Or that their 4.5 hour marathon at the end of an iron man is surely worth sub 2:30.