Preview Long Distance Walking Championships

Quentin Rew of Wellington heads a select group of five competitors who will be contesting the New Zealand 50km walking championship in Hastings on Sunday.

 

Rew is the defending champion having won last year in 4h 52m 55s.

 

Also entered are the 2004 champion Graeme Jones of Hastings, Peter Baillie of Wellington Scottish who won in 2006 and the 2007 and 2008 champion David Sim of Racewalking Auckland. Peter Zwart of Palmerston North in the masters 60-64 age group is also in the 50km walk.

 

The event will be held on a lap course within the Enza Coolstores property at Whakatu.

 

The performance standards for the world championships next year in Korea in the 50km walk are the A standard 3h 58m and the B standard 4h 9m. 

 

Rew said that he is in pretty good shape and it all depends on the weather how fast he can walk.

“It’s all about what happens on the day, but I’ll be aiming for five minute k’s which will give me a time of 4h 10m which is a decent chunk off my PB,” said Rew.

 

“If I manage to get under 4h 9m I will be pleasantly surprised. I’ve got another 50km planned for next April where I will have a better chance of doing that time,” he added.

 

Rew said that he came through a warm up 10km walk in Auckland on Sunday fairly comfortably. Competing in the Sir Barry Curtis Classic Rew won the walk section in 47m 34s.

 

Jones won the walk section in last month’s Hastings marathon in 4h 2m 5s, with Zwart recording 4h 33m 55s.

 

Alana Barber of Auckland will be defending the women’s 15km title. Barber won last year in 1h 23m 55s. Roseanne Robinson of Otago will provide Barber with plenty of competition. They will also be competing in the New Zealand 10km race walk championship carried over after being cancelled following the earthquake in Christchurch on 4 September. The 10km title will be decided and they will continue on to battle out the 15km gold medal. 

 

Daniel Lord of Canterbury is the sole entrant in the M19 20km. He will also contest the 5km title en route to the 20km finish.