I will write more about this later, but the above link is for Kjersti's last race ever at the IAAF Race Walk Challenge Final in Russia.

This is an awesome new site out of Argentina. Carlos, the author of the blog, has the most updated results information out of any of the websites that I have found.

While it is in Spanish, there is a link on the righe side of the page to translate it into english....but times are times, and they are universal in english or spanish.  So check it out! 

Maria Michta won the US Club Championships today at Randalls Island in New York City.  Maria walked her way to the third fastest time of her career and her fastest time in two years.  She won the race in a time of 23:56.

Great job Maria!! 

Women 5000 Meter Race Walk
=======================================================================
Meet Records: # 22:54.73  2005        Joanne Dow, New England Race Walkers    
    Name                    Year Team                    Finals  Points
=======================================================================
  1 Michta, Maria                Walk Usa              23:56.22   10  
  2 Bresnahan, Erin              Walk Usa              27:22.08    8  
  3 Daniel, Maryanne             CT Racewalke          28:17.69    6  
  4 Josephs, Molly               Walk Usa              29:42.70    5  
  5 Tillman, Crosby              Taconic Road          29:56.96    4  
  6 Geer, Panseluta              Shore Athlet          32:10.24    3  
  7 Paul, Maria                  Shore Athlet          33:37.79    2  

Klaus Thiedmann won the US National Masters 5,000m championship today in amazing style - in a PHOTO FINISH!!!  It appears that from the results below that Klaus was 2nd over all, but there seems to be some descrepancy with the results.  Irreguardless, Klaus won his age group today and his next race will be the World Masters Championships in Finland at the end of July.  Best of luck Klaus!

 M30-59 5000 Meter Race Walk
================================================================
    Name                     Age Team                    Finals
================================================================
  1 Medina, Alberto          M48 unattached            27:13.24 
  2 Thiedmann, Klaus         M54 Chicago Walk          27:13.60 
  3 Aunan, Tommy             M50 High Altitud          27:13.64 
  4 Smith, Andrew            M59 Pegasus A.C.          27:35.40 
  5 Clements, Damon          M52 unattached            27:42.27 
  6 De Witt, Mike            M58 Parkside Ath          28:35.70 
  7 McClung, Jeffrey         M53 unattached            31:11.10 
  8 Smith, Don               M52 unattached            31:23.79 
  9 Phillips, Lynn           M59 unattached            32:17.75 
10 Kale, Barton             M53 unattached            32:49.62

We have quite a bit of news to announce.

First, we have created a new web site www.racewalkclinic.com. It contains the information for Tim Seaman and Jeff Salvage’s Clinics of Excellence.

In addition, there is a free primer, on excellent race walking technique. This primer is being printed with the help of NARI (North American Race Walk Institute) and will be available for free to help promote race walking. We are printing 20,000 11 x 17 full color brochures that contain the same information as we have provided in our technique primer at www.racewalkclinic.com.

More information about how to get the flyer will be made available as soon as we receive them from the printer (approximately one week from now). In addition, Tim and myself are very proud to announce the publication of our new book, “Race Walk Clinic – in a Book.”

America’s premier team of clinicians Jeff Salvage and Tim Seaman’s Race Walk Clinic — in a Book beautifully illustrates textbook techniques while it catalogs typical mistakes race walkers make that can rob them of a legal race and speed. It explains why these problems exist and prescribes critical solutions to correct them. If you are ready to improve your race walking style and step up to the next level, then pick up Race Walk Clinic - in a Book today. Our approach in Race Walk Clinic — in a Book is to pick up where other training materials leave off. We start by grounding our discussion with a review of correct race walking technique, but do not focus on the many aspects of technique that you can do incorrectly. We then divide race walking technique problems into broad categories, starting with issues of legality and then separating technique issues into categories such as hip, leg, arm, and posture problems. For each category we illustrate the problem with photographs of either elite race walkers or (for beginner problems) staged images. We then offer remediation in two forms: exercises, drills, and stretches to improve your style, and mental cues to guide your focus while race walking. Within the educational material presented, we’ve interspersed “Tales from the Track,” a unique collection of unique stories in which great race walkers from the U.S. and around the world retell some of their most memorable experiences.

The book is available for pre-order at www.racewalkclinic.com and www.racewalk.com.

It should ship within two weeks.

Finally, we have added a new clinic to our schedule, July 25th and 26th in Orlando Florida. Please check www.racewalkclinic.com for details. Also, please note, that our Albany clinic, in conjunction with the 10K Nationals, still have quite a bit of space available. We people have signed up for the race to date, let’s all have a good showing for Don who is an adamant race walk supporter.

Jeff Salvage and Tim Seaman
www.racewalk.com and www.racewalkclinic.com

Today at the NAIA National Championships in Missouri, Chris Tegtmeier placed third to not only walk his way to All-American status, but he obtained his best time ever in the event in the process.  In the women's race, Katie Malinowski, a junior at Cornerstone University, placed 6th to earn her All-American status as well.  Katie attended Tim and Jeff's Clinic of Excellence last weekend in Chicago.  Congratulations to both Chris and Katie.

Here are the official results:

Event 12 Men 5000 Meter Race Walk
=======================================================================
NAIA Champs.: N 20:07.38 1997 Al Heppner, Wisconsin- Parkside
2008 Winner: * 21:06.16 5/23/2008 Inaki Gomez, British Columbia
Name Year School Finals Points
=======================================================================
Finals
1 Inaki Gomez JR British Columbia 20:41.11* 10
2 Evan Dunfee FR British Columbia 20:41.15* 8
3 Chris Tegtmeier JR Concordia (Neb.) 21:59.98 6
4 Josh Wiseman SO Cedarville 22:02.47 5
5 Creighton Connolly JR British Columbia 22:48.92 4
6 Peter Muldoon JR Central Methodist 23:48.34 3
7 Roberto Vergara FR Lindsey Wilson 24:04.97 2
8 Mike Mannozzi JR Notre Dame (Ohio) 24:11.72 1
9 Ricardo Vergara FR Lindsey Wilson 24:58.92
10 Mike Meekhof FR Notre Dame (Ohio) 25:12.46
11 Seth Campbell SR Cedarville 25:15.50
12 Zach Adams SO Houghton 25:16.52
13 Nathan Dreher SR Concordia (Neb.) 25:17.67
14 Kyle Hively JR Rio Grande 25:31.78
15 Tom Stolee JR Concordia (Neb.) 25:34.08
16 Shawn Magee SR Concordia (Ore.) 26:23.00
17 Kris Shear SO Cornerstone 26:29.58
18 Grant Bacon SO Cedarville 26:43.50
19 David Lindemann SO Lindenwood 26:56.83
20 Chris Dehning SR Concordia (Neb.) 27:11.93
21 Daniel Lew SR Westmont 27:51.59
22 Kyle Shaffer FR Malone 28:51.54
-- Evan Crowdus FR Lindsey Wilson DNF
-- Lucas Warner FR Berea DQ bent knee
-- Paul Ikeda SO Cedarville DQ bent knee

Event 36 Women 3000 Meter Race Walk
=======================================================================
NAIA Champs.: N 12:39.67 2000 Sarah Stevenson, Olivet Nazarene,
2008 Winner: * 14:12.12 5/23/2008 Megan Huzzey, British Columbia
Name Year School Finals Points
=======================================================================
Finals
1 Nicola Evangelista SO British Columbia 14:54.51 10
2 Tina Peters JR Goshen 15:16.74 8
3 Tessa Horst SR Goshen 15:37.70 6
4 Amanda Johnson JR Lindsey Wilson 15:45.20 5
5 Katie Burnett SO William Penn 15:45.23 4
6 Katie Malinowski JR Cornerstone 16:10.18 3
7 Megan Furnish SO Lindsey Wilson 16:37.34 2
8 Maria Mudd SR Walsh 16:39.81 1
9 Bev Larssen SO British Columbia 16:59.00
10 Jessica Ching FR Lindenwood 17:27.65
11 Caitlin Ambrose SR Berea 18:32.63
12 Stephanie Cowell FR Baker 18:37.77
13 Rachel Kettner SO Concordia (Neb.) 18:55.64
-- Emily Hansen JR Concordia (Neb.) DQ bent knee
-- Alexis Gutterman SO Lindenwood DQ bent knee

15 year old Tyler Sorensen from Lafayette, California broke his first ever US Jr. Record  on May 17, 2009 at Fairmount Park in Riverside, CA.  It was Sorensen's first ever Jr. Record and it was the third US Jr. Record broke this season.  Sorenson, part of Team Tim, broke the old record of 1:13:37, by 40 seconds. 

Next up for Tyler will be a week long training camp in San Diego with Tim and Trevor, sponsored by USA Track and Field.  After that it will be the USATF Jr. National Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Here are the offical results:

Male Open

Tyler Sorensen 15 1:12:57 Lafayette CA Pleasanton Heat
40-44 Art Morrow 44 1:48:51 Palm Desert CA So Cal Track Club
45-49 James Olson 46 1:42:27 San Diego CA Unattached
James Kurtzman 47 DQ Coto de Caza CA So Cal Track Club
50-54 Shipitsyn Anatoliy 54 1:16:34 Los Angeles CA Unattached
Mark Green 53 1:22:27 Reno NV Unattached
Pedro Santoni 51 1:28:09 Redlands CA So Cal Walkers
Alex Kazaryan 54 1:33:44 Los Angeles CA Unattached
Al Cazas 51 1:46:10 Loma Linda CA Inland Empire Racewalkers
55-59 Andrew Smith 59 1:27:11 Whittier NC Unattached
Amado Castro 58 1:55:34 Mandawyong PI Unattached
Jack Cassidy 59 DQ San Diego CA Unattached
60-64 Norm Frable 63 1:29:29 Ivins UT Unattached
Rick Campbell 63 1:31:34 Orange CA Easy Striders Walking Club
65-69 Wayne Wurzburger 67 1:42:12 Winnetka CA So Cal Walkers
John Backlund 68 1:44:43 Redmond OR Raceswalkers Northwest
Patrick Bivona 68 1:48:58 La Verne CA Inland Empire Racewalkers
Bernie Finch 69 1:55:08 Pepin WI Florida Athletic Club
Paul Johnson 71 1:35:08 Fort Smith AR Florida Athletic Club
Ronald Walters 70 1:41:38 Nipomo CA Sierra Racewalkers
Carl Acosta 75 1:41:15 N. Hollywood CA So Cal Track Club
Bill Moremen 81 1:51:51 Claremont CA So Cal Walkers
Bob Mimm 84 2:14:26 Willingboro NJ Shore AC

Gender Race First Last Name Age Race City State Club
Div. Name Time
15K
Female 50-54 Vicki Pritchard 50 1:40:24 Cave Creek AZ Unattached
Susan Mears 54 1:43:33 Reno NV Pacific Racewalkers

Marianne Martino 58 1:33:36 Littleton CO HART
Mary Baglin 62 1:40:28 Reno NV Pacific Racewalkers
Diane Brandt 60 1:40:39 Surprise AZ Unattached
Kathy Frable 63 1:46:25 Ivins UT Racewalkers Northwest
Darlene Backlund 62 1:50:31 Redmond OR Racewalkers Northwest
Louise Walters 69 1:38:59 Nipomo CA Sierra Racewalkers
Kathleen Balser 66 1:40:37 Phoenix AZ Unattached
Jolene Steigerwalt 65 1:41:20 San Diego CA So Cal Track Club
Janet Robinson 68 DNF La Mirada CA Easy Striders Walking Club

On Sunday April 5th, Tim, Rachel and Trevor traveled up to Mt. Sac to compete in their annual race walk event.  Since both Tim and Trevor had raced the previous weekend, it was decided that they would do a 5km together so that Trevor could make an assualt or attempt at the US Jr. 5km record held by Ben Shorey.  Ben's US Jr. Record time was 20:57.  Not an easy time to hit for a 16 year old, but after his 44:26 performance the week before, Coach Tim though that Trevor was ready.  The duo started off the first km at 4:12, slightly off pace, but enough to keep it within striking distance.  The next km was down to 4:07, 4:10( for a 3km time of 12:30).  From 3km to 4km they walked 4:11, and Trevor's "final" km he walked 4:09 to walk an amazing 20:53.25, breaking the record by 4 seconds.

 Since the race was a 10km race, Trevor still had to complete the distance in order for the time to count, so he strolled the next 12.5 laps and finished in 51 minutes, winning the junior race.

 Tim, meanwhile, lost a bit of focus because he was so happy with Trevor's race that he slowed down after Trevor stopped, but he still mananged to walk 42:49, the fastest 10km in the US in two years.

Just a few short minutes later, Tim jumped into the 5km to help Rachel in her first hard workout/race since coming down from altitude.  Rachel walked a solid 23:36.  Next up for Rachel will be a 20km race in Germany on April 25th.  

For Tim and Trevor, it will be America's Race Walk Championship in El Salvador on Friday May 1st.

In other news, Chris Tegtmeier will be competing at the Penn Relays, where he walked his first and only 10km race of his career a few years ago.  In the women's race, Lauren Forgues will be making her debut after 8 months off of training recovering form knee surgery.

 Best of luck to the TEAM!

Almost 50 kids competed in a 1500m race after the 20km races were finished.  Although Tim was tired, the kids that he was walking with placed 2nd in both of the two heats.  That means that Tim placed 2nd three times that day!!  :)  First Patrick beat him, and then 14-year old Molly Josephs from Long Island beat him!

More importantly, the kids had a lot of fun.  Full results are available at www.eteams.com/stwc

Click the above link to see a video of the race in Pharr, Texas.  Tim placed 2nd in a time of 1:28:04 to qualify for the America's Race walk Championships in El Salvador on May 1st and 2nd.

The race was almost 4 minutes faster than Tim walked last season after his surgery.

 Also, Trevor walked his way to a huge PR in a time of 44:26 for 10km.  Trevor qualified for the race in El Salvador and also for the World Youth Championships in Italy in July.

We have now been here in Flagstaff for almost 3 weeks.  Trevor and I have less than a week to go, while Rachel and Lauren have about 10 days to go.  The Plaetzer and Tysse family left yesterday for Norway, while Sabine and Bastian are here for another 3 days. 

Training has been going very well.  Over 140km the past two weeks and Rachel has had almost the same.  Lauren's training has been progressing nicely, and Trevor is ready to rock and roll next weekend in Texas.

Here is a great picture of me training with Kjersti, Sabine and Trevor on our 2.5km course.  This could be the last picture that I ever have of Kjersti and I racewalking together because she has already announced her retirement after the end of the season.  

Click on the above link and then scroll through the pictures until you get to # 32.

It appears that Tim was a little excited about being "back" after missing most of last season due to his labrum surgery.

Event 6 Men 1 Mile Race Walk Susan Rudin===============================================================

Name Year Team Finals

===============================================================

Finals

1 Tim Seaman USA 6:02.58

2 Andreas Gustafsson SWE 6:04.54 ----- PR

3 Mike Tarantino USA 6:08.58

4 Trevor Barron USA 6:14.12  -----  PR

5 Tyler Sorenson USA 6:37.44 ------ PR

6 Richard Luettchau, II USA 6:39.50

7 Ricardo Vergara USA 6:41.69

8 Roberto Vergara USA 6:44.24

9 Alejandro Chavez USA 6:52.90 ----- PR

10 Curt Clausen USA 6:54.62

11 Michael Kazmierczak USA 7:05.95

12 Don Lawrence USA 7:31.69

In what was probably his last Olympic Trials appearance of his career, Tim Seaman placed fifth in a time of 1:31:35.

 Kevin Eastler did a superb job of winning the race in a time of 1:27:07, to walk his way onto his second Olympic Team.  Tim started the race right where he thought he would be, but had some technical issues and was forced to slow just after 10km.  Tim did not want to end his Olympic Trials career with a disqualification and he realizes it was a success just to be able to participate after his hip surgery last October when his family was told that Tim would never be able to racewalk again.  Tim didn't find out about this information until March and it was the flame that lit his internal torch in his quest for a third Olympic Team these past few months.  It was the first time since 1995 that Tim has finished out of the top-3 places at the National 20km Championship.  Here are the results:

Finals
  1 Kevin Eastler                U.S. Air Force         1:27:08
  2 Matthew Boyles               Miami Valley TC        1:28:20
  3 Patrick Stroupe              unattached             1:29:17
  4 John Nunn                    U.S. Army              1:30:35
  5 Tim Seaman                   New York A C           1:31:35
  6 Allen James                  Bond Lake A.C.         1:32:13
  7 Benjamin Shorey              Wisconsin-Parkside     1:33:16
  8 Philip Dunn                  New Balance            1:33:52
  9 Charles Collier              Athletics East         1:35:00
10 Steven Quirke                Parkside A C           1:35:45
11 Michael Tarantino            World Class Walk       1:38:02
12 Jared Swehosky               unattached             1:39:14
13 Theron Kissinger             C R W/N Balance        1:40:35
-- Christopher Tegtmeier        Concordia/Neb.              DQ

Training in Norway with Kjersti was a big step forward, but the race in Spain was a small step back.  I was able to do a lot of quality training, but during the race, I had some pain in my hip and I didn't want to take a change with pushing through it.  I know that I have to do well at the Olympic Trials.  La Coruna had very mixed results.  Either you did very well or you did very poorly.  It was very much unlike last year, where it took a sub 1:23:00 time to get into the top 12.  This year, that same place was over 1:30:00.  There were 8 men disqualified and 8 who did not finish.  Those are incredibly high numbers.

The Rocket was suberb in winning his second Challenge race of the year.  Kjersti was very smart as she won her fourth Challenge this season.

 Here are the results:

Results from La Coruna
Men's 20km
Pto. Dorsal Nombre Apellidos Pais
1 3 ERYK TYSSE NORUEGA 20.02 2 39.47 2 59.36 1 1.19.21
2 2 HATHEM GHOULA TUNEZ 20.02 1 39.47 1 59.59 2 1.21.52
3 7 JOAO VIEIRA PORTUGAL 20.37 7 41.22 8 1.01.49 4 1.21.56
4 8 SERGIO VIEIRA PORTUGAL 20.37 8 41.22 7 1.01.48 3 1.21.58
5 15 HASSANINE SBAI TUNEZ 20.37 10 41.20 3 1.01.55 5 1.22.38
6 28 ALAN SEGURA COSTA RICA 20.35 3 41.20 4 1.02.51 6 1.25.30
7 26 JOHN NUNN EE.UU 42.31 10 1.04.08 8 1.26.22
8 14 YUSUKE YACHI JAPON 1.28.04
9 21 LUIS FERNANDO GARCIA BECHINIE GUATEMALA 1.28.31
10 29 BERNARDO CALVO COSTA RICA 1.04.54 9 1.28.53
11 12 DAVID DOMINGUEZ GUIMERA ESPAÑA 20.37 12 1.05.47 10 1.29.50
12 23 KEVIN ESTLER EE.UU 1.30.09
13 17 BERTAND MOULINET FRANCIA 1.30.46
14 13 AKIHIRO SUGIMOTO JAPON 20.36 5 41.22 9 1.02.56 7 1.30.49
15 32 FERRAN COLLAZOS LOPEZ ESPAÑA 1.32.10
16 22 TIM SEAMAN EE.UU 1.34.08
Descl. 1 JESUS ANGEL GARCIA BRAGADO ESPAÑA
Descl. 4 ROBERT HEFFERMAN IRLANDA 20.36 4 41.21 5
Descl. 5 ILYA MARKOV RUSIA 20.36 6 41.21 6
Descl. 6 FRANCISCO PINARDO ESPAÑA
Descl. 11 JOSE M. CORCHETE ESPAÑA
Descl. 25 VICTOR HUGO MENDOZA EL SALVADOR 20.37 11
Descl. 27 CRISTIAN BERDEJA VILLAVICENCIO MEXICO 20.37 9
Descl. 31 ALVARO GARCIA CORDOBA MEXICO
DNF - 9 DAVID BOULANGER FRANCIA
DNF - 10 BENJAMIN SANCHEZ ESPAÑA
DNF - 16 MEHER BEN HALIMA TUNEZ
DNF - 18 CAIO OLIVEIRA DE DEN A BOFIN BRASIL
DNF - 19 JOSE M. A BAGIO BRASIL
DNF - 20 RAFAEL DUARTE BRASIL 20.37 13
DNF - 24 WALTER ALBERTO SANDOVAL EL SALVADOR
DNF - 30 JOSE M. FERNANDEZ NIEVES ESPAÑA

Women's 20km
Pto. Dorsal Nombre Apellidos Pais
1 102 KJERSTI PLATZER NORUEGA 23.25 4 45.42 1 1.07.47 1 1.29.38
2 106 SABINE ZIMMER ALEMANIA 23.25 5 45.43 2 1.07.48 2 1.29.40
3 101 ATHNASIA TSOUMELEKA GRECIA 23.14 1 45.44 3 1.08.09 3 1.30.44
4 109 INES HENRIQUES PORTUGAL 23.15 3 45.44 4 1.08.13 4 1.31.06
5 108 Mª JOSE POVES ESPAÑA 23.25 8 45.53 7 1.08.52 7 1.31.16
6 105 OLIVE LOUGHNANE IRLANDA 23.14 2 46.05 8 1.08.38 5 1.31.22
7 104 CLAUDIA STEF RUMANIA 45.49 5 1.08.47 6 1.32.06
8 113 MARIBEL GONÇALVEZ PORTUGAL 1.09.05 8 1.32.22
9 107 SACHITO KONISHI JAPON 23.25 9 1.34.43
10 115 KUMI OTOSHI JAPON 1.35.51
11 117 ALEXANDRA PICAGEVICZ BRASIL 1.36.32
12 130 MARIA GALIKOVA ESLOVAQUIA 1.38.49
13 123 GIOVEANA IRUSTA BOLIVIA 1.40.49
14 121 RAHMA MAHMOUDI TUNEZ 1.42.45
15 131 ROCIO BAJO SELMA ESPAÑA 1.43.58
16 127 VERONICA ELIZABETCHOLINDRES EL SALVADOR 1.45.02
17 120 OLFA LAFI TUNEZ 1.46.03
18 128 ALBA SANCHEZ PABLO ESPAÑA 1.48.09
19 116 FUMIGA KIRYU JAPON 1.51.44
Descl. 103 HELENA GINZO BIELORRUSIA
Descl. 124 EVALINE ROSEMARIENUÑEZ GUATEMALA
Descl. 125 JOLELE MOORE EE.UU.

DNF - 110 ATHINA PAPAYANNI GRECIA
DNF - 111 ANA CABECINHA PORTUGAL 25.23 6 45.53 6
DNF - 112 SONATA MILUSAUSKAITE LITUANIA
DNF - 114 FUMIGA BUDILEANU RUMANIA 23.25 7
DNF - 118 GIANETTI OLIVEIRAde DENA BONFIM BRASIL
DNF - 119 CISIANE DUTRA LOPEZ BRASIL
DNF - 122 CHAIMA TRABELSI TUNEZ
DNF - 126 RACHEL LAVALLE CANADA
DNF - 129 MIRIAM RAMOS ECUADOR

Story to come tomorrow...  Here are the results:

 ) Patrick Stroupe unatt (Fla) 1:30:29.4 ($400)

2) Johnn Nunn US Army (Cal) 1:30:50.6 ($300)

3) Tim Seaman NYAC (Cal) 1:32:48.4 ($200)

4) Michael Tarantino unatt (Cal) 1:33:11.0 ($100)

5) Chris Tegtmeier Concordia Univ (Neb) 1:34:46.2

6) Theron Kissinger Connecticut RWers (Ct) 1:36:06.3

7) Dave McGovern unatt/New Balance (NY) 1:42:40.3

8) Jared Swehosky unatt (Ore) 1:44:57.2

9) Michael Kazmierczak Walk USA (RI) 2:00:06.9

10) Jeremy Bahr-worley Concordia College (Ore) 2:02:22.3

-- Charles Collier Athletics East (NM) DQ

-- Shawn McGee Concordia College (Ore) DNF









1) Teresa Vaill, Walk USA (Fla) 1:36:18.6 ($400)

2) Joanne Dow, unatt./Adidas (NH) 1:38:36.4 ($300)

3) Susan Armenta, unatt. (Cal) 1:39:01.9 ($200)

4) Sam Cohen, Parkside Athletics Club (Wis) 1:40:52.3 ($100)

5) Stephanie Casey, unatt. (Ore) 1:41:47.7 ($100)

6) Jolene Moore, New York Athletic Club (Ill) 1:42:04.1

7) Maria Michta, Walk USA (NY) 1:45:08.8

8) Solomiya Login, Southeastern Pennsylvania AC (PA) 1:45:41.6

9) Lauren Forgues, Maine Racewalkers (ME) 1:45:45.3

10) Loretta Schuellein, Walk USA (NY) 1:46:53.4

11) Margaret Ditchburn, unatt. (CA) 1:49.52.1

12) Kelly Wong, Golden Gate Race Walkers (CA) 1:50:33.0

13) Kristen Mullaney, Pegasus Athletic Club (MI) 1:52:06.0

14) Christina Peters, Goshen College (OH) 1:52:21.7

15) Susan Randall, Miami Valley TC (OH) 1:52:25.3

16) Sara Standley-Gonzalez, unatt. (OR) 1:54:01.2

17) Jamie Burmeister, unatt. (NEB) 2:05:35.4

18) Carmen Jackinsky, Racewalkers Northwest (OR) 2:08:02.2

For the first time in 7 months, Tim Seaman will be toeing the line in a racewalk competition. It is not for lack of trying for the 2-time Olympian, as he has battled back from the biggest hurdle of his career. In October, Tim has major hip surgery to correct a tear in his labrum and as part of the surgery they had to shave down part of the femur (the leg bone). After the surgery Tim was told that the surgery was more complicated than expected, but the surgeon told Tim's dad a different story. Tim's dad was told that it would be highly unlikely that Tim would ever racewalk again.

Tim is determined to prove the doctor wrong as he lines up tomorrow morning on the 1km course outside of Autzen Stadium. The course is a 500m out and 500m back flat asphalt loop with almost no incline.

The weather is expected to be cold and snowy, but Tim has faced far worse in his career. While Tim has not walked 20km in training yet this season, his goal is simple: To finish the 20km race. If he is able to do that, he will finish with a huge smile on his face.

This will be a great step forward towards his goals for this season.

Tim Berrett qualifies for his 5th Olympic Team for Canada.

Click on the above title to see the article in which Berrett talks about how frustrated he is with his federation. Tim seems as frustrated with the lack of support from Athletics Canada as Tim Seaman is with the US Racewalking Committee's Chairman Vince Peters, USA Track and Field and the US Olympic Committee's complete lack of assistance in helping Tim qualify for his third Olympic Team.

Copied with permission from WALK! Magazine. 

Tim Seaman’s road to the Olympics has never been easy.  Tim is one of those guys who as Rob Cole once said, “If it wasn’t for bad luck Tim, you would have no luck.”  It was true before Tim qualified for his first Olympic Team in 2000 and it is true now as Tim tries to qualify for his third and last Olympic Team. 

            Sometime after Tim returned from the Pan-Am Cup in Brazil, Tim noticed that he was having some pain in his right adductor when he was warming up and when he turned around.  He didn’t think much of it and in fact went on to walk his second fastest time ever at the IAAF Grand Prix in LaCoruna, Spain in May.  After that though, things got progressively worse.  Tim was unable to do speedwork before the Outdoor National Championships in Indianapolis and then decided to skip the Pan-Am Games in July so that he could try and “rest” it, while still training for the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan.  While in Japan, Tim finally had the opportunity for an athletic trainer to look at him and the prognosis was not good news…..They had no clue what was wrong with him.  Upon his return from Japan, Tim put his full focus on finding out what was wrong.  The first doctor took an MRI and it said that he had osteoarthritis and the doctor told him to just “not train as much as he did before.”  That answer wasn’t acceptable to Tim, so he found another doctor who thought that it could be something else more complicated.  So, Tim took another MRI.  This one said that Tim had a torn Labrum inside his hip joint.  The doctor said that it was not something that he would recommend that Tim did before the Olympics because it was a very big surgery but the problem was that Tim was unable at that point to run or walk for 2 minutes without massive pain.

            Tim returned to Long Island to visit his family and had an appt with a specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.  The doctor advised Tim that he had a femoral acetabular impingement and that was causing the Labrum to tear as well as the adductor longus muscle.  He said that he would not recommend that Tim had the surgery before the Olympics provided that Tim was able to continue to train.  Since Tim wasn’t able to train at all, the decision was made to have surgery.  Three days later on Thursday October 25^th, at 6am in the morning Tim had surgery to correct the problem.  Dr. Coleman went in and shaved down a portion of the femur bone that was impinging the movement of the leg and he trimmed away that portion of the labrum that was torn.  He also had to remove some cartilage that was torn.

            Ten days after the surgery Tim met the doctor again for his post-op checkup.  He only had to use crutches for the first week, so he hobbled into the office on the upper east side of Manhattan. He took a seat on the tall chairs in the lobby that are specially made for hip-replacement patients and waited for his name to be called.  The nurse came out and took Tim into the room to remove the sutures.  A few minutes later, Dr. Coleman came in and showed Tim the pictures from the surgery.  He said that things were worse inside than he had thought and that he couldn’t guarantee that Tim would be 100% because of the missing cartilage.    He said that Tim couldn’t run or racewalk for 6 weeks and during that time he could start to do some easy rehab.

            Currently Tim is awaiting the six weeks to finish so that he can see if the surgery was a success or not.  He had originally planned on being in Germany at a training camp with his Team Plaetzer teammates at the end of November though the middle of December but that had to be cancelled.  Many things were planned in his preparation to qualify for his third Olympic Team, but now the only focus is being able to pain free. 

Armory HS Sports Foundation - Site License 2008 National Scholastic Indoor Championships New Balance Track & Field Center, The Armory New York City - 3/14/2008 to 3/16/2008 Event 18 Boys 1 Mile Race Walk =============================================================== Name Year School Finals =============================================================== Finals

1. Vergara, Ricardo SR Edinburg, TX 6:36.96

2 Barron, Trevor SO Bethel Park, PA 6:40.31

3 Vergara, Roberto SR Edinburg, TX 6:44.97

4 forgues, matthew SO boothbay, ME 7:08.10

5 Chavez, Alejandro FR McAllen, TX 7:10.87

6 Campbell, Tyler JR Lisbon, ME 7:17.03

7 Gunderkline, Jacob JR Yellow Springs, OH 7:30.07

8 Brown, Jonathan SR Hysttaville, MD 8:27.54

-- Sorensen, Tyler 8 Lafayette, CA DQ

-- Randall, John SO Yellow Springs, OH DQ

Finals

1 Dutkoski, Mary SR West Nyack, NY 7:41.06

2 Vaskyte, Emilija SO Franklin Square, NY 7:44.55

3 Davis, Catie JR Peekskill, NY 7:49.98

4 Sorensen, Nicolette 7 Lafayette, CA 7:54.69

5 Bernier, Christie SO Auburn, ME 7:55.23

6 Cheung, Amy SO Bohemia, NY 7:55.84

7 Savoia, Catherine JR Thiells, NY 8:12.16

8 Chin, Allison SO Yellow Springs, OH 8:15.36

9 Battaglia, Diana JR Holbrook, NY 8:15.57

10 Rende, Brittany SR Sayville, NY 8:16.48

11 Katz, Rebecca SR Hastings-on-Hudson, 8:18.54

12 Davis, Emily SR Batavia, NY 8:23.87

13 Higgins, Alison SR Kings Park, NY 8:25.67

14 He, Dan Ping JR New York, NY 8:26.51

15 Lalane, Destiny SO Bay Shore, NY 8:30.29

16 Dolma, Yangchen SO New York, NY 8:32.01

17 Coulter, Devon SO West Nyack, NY 8:33.96

18 Burglund, Kelsey SR Wheatley Heights, N 8:36.78

19 Lu, Yun Zhi SR New York, NY 8:38.85

20 Tintle, Jillian SR Middletown, NY 8:41.57

21 Ortiz, Claudia FR McAllen, TX 8:43.31

22 Flores, Diana FR McAllen, TX 8:43.41

23 Penny, Melody SO East Islip, NY 8:46.12

24 Reybal, Jessica FR McAllen, TX 8:49.50

25 Savage, Tyeasha JR New Rochelle, NY 8:50.39

26 Brevogel, Lisa SR New City, NY 8:51.22

27 Guzman, Ariana FR McAllen, TX 8:55.32

28 Mbodj, Arame SR New Rochelle, NY 8:57.33

29 Cross, Kaitlynn JR Suffern, NY 8:58.77

30 Crosley, Helen JR Franklin Square, NY 9:03.35

31 Melillo, Alyssa JR Holtsville, NY 9:04.19

32 Kleinbach, Devon SO Batavia, NY 9:24.12

33 Reed, Emily FR Farmington, ME 9:35.52

34 Dilullo, Jenna SR Hopewell Junction, 9:41.61

35 Cox, Ashley SO Buxton, ME 9:44.42 --

Brod, Carly SR Merrick, NY DQ

-- Yang, Nina SR Fresh Meadows, NY DQ

-- Berry, Allison FR Yellow Springs, OH DQ

-- Cheng, Connie JR Bayside, NY DQ -

- McGowan, Kristina JR Pearl River, NY DQ

Click the above link to see the start list of the IAAF Racewalking Challenge race in Chihuahua, Mexico on March 8th & 9th.

Ricardo and Roberto Vergara will be joined by The Rocket - Eric Tysse, his sister Kjersti Plaetzer as well as Americans John Nunn, Philip Dunn and Susan Armenta.

Normally things like this do not appear on TimSeaman.com because it hurts the entire sport of track and field, but this is just unbelievable. Marion was a superstar, a role model, a hero for kids across the country because of the incredible performances that she put forth at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. She was one of the prized athletes of the United States Olympic Committee because of her feats on the track and she was a centerpiece of all highlight videos from the 2000 Olympic Games because of her great attitude and superb performaces.

Now, she is a disgraced athlete and her name name should be wiped clean from the minds of every American.

Perez gets a hat-trick Today at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan there were three things that were hot: Jefferson Perez, the weather and the jury of appeals. First, Jefferson Perez, the reigning World Champion won his third consecutive World Championship Title. A feat matched by no other racewalker in the history of the event. Jefferson walked one of the toughest races of his career. The sweltering heat, Jefferson’s “biggest concern” before and during the race, made the going very tough for all of the competitors. The race started off at 8am sharp with temperatures already at 91 degrees. Tim Seaman and Kevin Eastler’s race plan was to start off at around 4:30 pace per kilometer and pick it up after 10km. Unfortunately, only Kevin was able to keep to the plan as he walked 44:50 for his first 10km and he was able to come back in around 43:40 for his 2^nd 10km. Tim meanwhile struggled today. Eastler and Seaman walked together through 8km but soon after that the conditions got to Tim and he slowed a bit. By 12km Kevin had two sub 1:19:00 guys from China in his sights and he passed both of them. Tim was behind them by about 50 seconds and did his best to catch them, but today wasn’t his day. Third was the decision by the Jury of Appeals. In racewalking the Chief Judge has the ability to disqualify an athlete the last 100m if he/she feels that an athlete has broken the rules in a blatant way. With less than 40 meters to go, Francisco Fernandez from Spain passed Hatem Guala from Tunisa and the Chief Judge disqualified him for, what he saw, as a blatant violation of the rules. On appeal, the Jury of Appeals reinstated the disqualified Fernandez and thus moved everyone back one position.

In the end, Tim ended up placing 31st in a time of 1:33:58 and Kevin was 28th in a time of 1:28:29 but their Team Plaetzer Teammate, Erik "the Rocket" Tysse, placed 8th, scoring him the highest place ever for Team Plaetzer at the World Championships.

Official Results:

1 108 Jefferson Pérez ECU 1:22:20 .
2 103 Francisco Javier Fernández ESP 1:22:40 .
3 111 Hatem Ghoula TUN 1:22:40 .
4 113 Eder Sánchez MEX 1:23:36 .
5 124 Giorgio Rubino ITA 1:23:39 .
6 116 Robert Heffernan IRL 1:23:42 .
7 118 Luke Adams AUS 1:23:52 .
8 112 Erik Tysse NOR 1:24:10 .
9 102 Ilya Markov RUS 1:24:35 .
10 128 Alex Schwazer ITA 1:24:39 (SB)
11 127 Koichiro Morioka JPN 1:24:46 .
12 142 Rolando Saquipay ECU 1:25:03 .
13 101 Gaobo Li CHN 1:25:30 .
14 129 Matej Tóth SVK 1:25:57 .
15 117 Chil-Sung Park KOR 1:26:08 .
16 120 Juan Manuel Molina ESP 1:26:26 .
17 131 Benjamin Kucinski POL 1:26:43 .
18 135 Andriy Kovenko UKR 1:26:44 .
19 141 Akihiro Sugimoto JPN 1:26:45 .
20 122 Hyunsub Kim KOR 1:26:51 .
21 123 Takayuki Tanii JPN 1:26:53 .
22 144 Luis Fernando López COL 1:27:22 .
23 125 Benjamin Sánchez ESP 1:27:29 .
138 Hassanine Sbai TUN 1:27:35 .
25 114 João Vieira POR 1:27:44 .
26 132 Rafal Augustyn POL 1:27:54 .
27 115 Ivan Trotskiy BLR 1:27:56 .
28 140 Kevin Eastler USA 1:28:29 .
29 104 Yucheng Han CHN 1:31:58 .
30 105 Jimin Dong CHN 1:32:03 .
31 143 Timothy Seaman USA 1:33:58 .
32 137 Predrag Filipovic SRB 1:35:51 . .
126 Jared Tallent AUS DQ . .
139 Gabriel Ortiz MEX DQ . .
136 Andrés Chocho ECU DQ . .
110 Ivano Brugnetti ITA DQ . .
121 Daniel García MEX DQ . .
109 Igor Erokhin RUS DQ . .
134 Gustavo Restrepo COL DQ . .
106 Valeriy Borchin RUS DNF . .
133 Sérgio Vieira POR DNF . .
119 André Höhne GER DNFPere

Last night we had our first and only full team meeting. All 100+ athletes from the US delegation were there and it was a pretty amazing and inspirational meeting. Adam Nelson got up and read a poem (that he wrote??) entitled "Don't give up." It was for sure one of the best that I have heard in a long time. Then, Craig Masback, the CEO of USATF got up and reminded us that we are the Worlds # 1 Track and Field Team! WOW! We also elected a Flag-Bearer (Dwight Philips) and a Captain (Reese Hoffa). Reese is a teammate of mine with the NYAC so it was with great pleasure that I voted for him.

I have to say that it is truly an honor and a pleasure to be here representing my country. I have worked hard all season, but I know that there is still a lot of very hard work to be done before I can make my third Olympic Team in Beijing. Kevin and I have a good race plan for tomorrow, one that we hope will give us the best chance to do well.

The marathon was today and it seemed as if the athletes were about 8 - 15 minutes off of their best times or their season bests. That gave us a good indication on what we can expect.

Our race goes off at 8am tomorrow morning, which is about 7pm in New York and 4pm in San Diego.

More updates after the race....

First update:

We have been in Japan for about 5 days now. We were at the USATF's pre-camp about an hour outside of Osaka in a great hotel. Kevin and I are roommates and the hotel was amazing. It was by far one of the best hotels that either of us have ever stayed at. The bad part though was the fact that the weather here in Osaka has been by far the worst that we have ever been in. By 7am in the morning it is almost 95 degrees and with the humidity it feels like it is 105 degrees.

We are now at the hotel in Osaka. In the hotel it is just us and the Canadian Team. There are security guards all over the place and when we get off the elevator at our hotel, we have to show them our credential to be able to walk to our room.

This morning we had our last hard workout. We did 8 x 1km and we were lucky that we found a course right by the river. It was pretty cool becuase Deana's husband Andrew came to help us with our drinks and Alan Webb ran with us while we were warming up to the course.

OK, more updates later.....

Please remember that Osaka is - 8 hours from San Diego (technically + 16 hours) and - 11 hours from New York (again, technically + 13 hours)

The men's 20km will be held on August 26th at 8am.....which means that it will be 4pm on August 25th in San Diego and 7pm on August 25th in New York.