News

Alan Poisner, founding member and past-president of the Heartland Racewalkers, repeated as USATF Masters Racewalker of the Year in his age division (80-84). He had previously won this award in 2011 and 2015. This was based on his Gold Medal wins at the USATF National Indoor in Albuquerque (one-mile and 3000 meters) and the National Outdoor Championships in Baton Rouge (5000 meters and 10K). He was also recognized for setting a new record in the Indoor one-mile walk. In the 9 national and international races in 2017 he earned 9 Gold Medals.

This year had some serious challenges, including racing the 5K in the National Senior Games in Birmingham during a drenching rain on a course full of puddles and sloping surfaces. Also a challenge was the 10K race in Baton Rouge where the humidity was greater than his finishing time (76 min) and survival was the goal.

After the Indoor meet in Albuquerque, Alan went further south to compete in the World Masters Games in Auckland, New Zealand. This is described in the news item posted in May. He competed in the 1500 meter and 3000 meter racewalks and took Gold in both, achieving an 86.1% age-grading result in the 1500 meter race. He also beat the Russian who had come in second to him in 2011 in the World Masters Athletics Championships. This guy probably was taking the wrong drugs.

After New Zealand, the next two events were also south, but in the U.S. In the National Senior Games in Birmingham, Alan repeated as the Gold Medalist in both the 1500 meter and the 5K walks in the 80-84 division (now at age 83). Then at the USATF National Masters Outdoor Championships in Baton Rouge, he took Gold in the 5000 meter race on the track (LSU) and the 10K on the road (mentioned above).

The final national race was the biannual State Games of America which was held in Grand Rapids, MI. Our club was instrumental in part in including racewalking as an official event, just like it was in 2015 in Lincoln, NE. Alan was the sole representative of HRW, although other club members had qualified by taking medals in the Sunflower Games or the ShowMe games. He repeated his 2015 win by taking Gold in the 1500 meter walk.

In addition to these achievements for racewalking against walkers, he also won a Phidippides Award from the National Masters News for his participation and wins in many road races (racewalking against runners). He has now won this award 6 times.

2017 has been a special racing season for Alan, now in his 33rd year as a racewalker.