Race walking is a sport that is easily recognisable for all the wrong reasons, according to one of Nelson’s top college athletes.
At 15, Nelson College’s Jamie Shaw placed third at the New Zealand track and field champs in the 300m race walk, under-18 section. This year he finished with a silver medal and was crowned South Island champion a week later.
The pathway is there for Jamie as well. Race walking is an Olympic sport and the two young walkers that beat him last year are headed to China for the world champs.
The difference between silver and gold was not great this year and Jamie has his sights set on the world champs in Russia in 2016. “We have to get under 50 minutes for 10km. In two years in Russia, that is probably the big goal,” he said.
Jamie got into the sport after champion race walker Nyle Sunderland attended an Nelson Athletics club night. She gave demonstrations and sent the youngsters around the track a couple of times. He credits his coach Peter Hague for all of his success in the sport since.
“I guess it just came naturally, but I guess it is a weird thing to come naturally,” said Jamie, who now has three seasons under his belt.
Jamie usually competes in the 3000m on the track, and recorded a personal best time of 14min 49sec at the South Island secondary school champs. There is also a 5km road event Jamie has raced in and a 10km road option he is building towards, but the Olympic distances are 20km and a whopping 50km effort. The world record for a 50km walk is 3hr 34min 14sec.
There are strict rules around race walking, but like any sport, the best test the boundaries.
The two main rules demand that walkers must have one foot on the ground at all times and the knee must be locked as it passes below the body. Warning cards are awarded throughout the race to competitors who break these rules.
There are usually about five judges around the track. A yellow warning card is followed by a red and if you receive three red cards “you are out”.
“People that are much faster than me, they would be pushing it. So it would probably be a good race if they didn’t get disqualified but were pushing that barrier,” Jamie said.
“It was quite a strain on the legs to begin with and the rules are hard to stick with for some people. You can always keep improving, like a sprinting technique it can always get better.”
Yet no matter what the technique, the tall and measured young man smiles knowingly when attitudes towards the sport are raised. The pace is generally generated through a frenetic waddle-like motion with elbows raised and a picture of concentration on the face.
“Yeah, just walking around the street you get a few glares and weird looks. Some people just laugh as you go past because it looks really funny. I guess I’d laugh as well.”
But, with improvement and time it will almost certainly be Jamie laughing as he wings his way to Russia, and a potential shot at Olympic qualification in the future.
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