News

Pat Durkin completed this race for the 11th time on Nov. 13 The event is a family affair with three generations of the family's women showing up to compete or cheer. The course provides the most beautiful, challenging event I have tackled”, reports Pat! The race motto is: get wet, get dirty, race Dogwood.

Dogwood Canyon is located north of Branson in the Ozark hills. The course starts on the canyon floor, crosses streams 12 times as you climb steep, rocky ascents and loops back down to the canyon floor before ascending and descending again and again. Pat races with hiking poles, moving at a trot not a racewalk, to help with the uphill climbs and to help save her knees on the steep descents. The starting temperature was 22 degrees making for freezing temperatures with some icy spots on creek exits and a frozen camelback water delivery tube until 8.8 miles. The goal of finishing in 3 hours was accomplished with her family cheering her in. As the only woman in the 75 and up age group, Pat received her 10th 1st place award. She is also a champion and inspiration for the Heartland Racewalkers.

HRW sent six walkers to the 2022 version of the Huntsman World Senior Games, which also served as the Utah Senior Games (Oct. 10-12), and they came away with a load of medals in racewalking and power walking. The results can be found in the Results link.

In the opening racewalking event, the 3000 meters, three HRW walkers entered and took 2 Golds and a Silver. The next day was even more impressive when five entrants took 2 Golds, 2 Silvers and a 4th place ribbon. Finally, the 5K yielded 2 Golds a bronze and another 4th place ribbon.

In power walking, Martha McCarter entered the 3000 M and 1500 M races and took Gold in both. Janice Kelble won a Bronze in the only race that she entered in the 70-74 division. Martha and Janice were listed in one higher age division since this event used the Senior Games definition of age (age on Dec. 31).

Congratulations to Martha McCarter, Eileen McManus, Janice Kelble, Maggie McCoy, Pat Durkin, and David Eisenberg. Thanks to Sandy Eisenberg for taking some great pictures. They will be posted in the Pictures link.

Alan returns to road racing. It has been four years since Alan racewalked against runners in a local road race-the Leawood Labor Day 5K in 2018. This year, after recovering from COVID, he decided to try it again-to enjoy the ambiance of the local racing scene and to advertise racewalking. The event was the Oktoberfest 5K in Martin City (135th St, east of Main).

It was a cool (he wore 5 layers) morning and a very hilly route. Alan’s time of 39:40 was fast enough to beat 98 runners and walkers and the only other entrant in the 80-99 division, a 5-years younger 82-year-old. It would have been good enough for an 81.7% age-graded result if the course had been certified and judged.

There are a few more community road races coming up, like the Ward Parkway Thanksgiving Day 5k on Nov. 24 and the Jingle Bell Run on Dec. 4 on the Asperia Campus. Let’s get some more HRW racers to spread the word about racewalking in the local running scene.

HRW participated in the Annual Patriots Race on September 10th, 2022. on the former Sprint Campus called the Aspiria campus with a 10 member team.

Traditionally the race is held for 9 hrs and 11 min. with our team competing for the entire time. Since KS Senior games were held on September 11th our club made the decision to modify our participation. Our team was trimmed down to 9 members when Pamela Felton had to scratch due to an injury. So, 9 racewalkers each completed one 1.5 mile loop of the course for a total of 13.5 miles in 3 hrs. 9 min. We started at 9:11 AM and finished at 12:20. PM. A slower 24 min lap estimate was scheduled due to hot weather and the KS Senior games the next day.

Lap times varied from 18 min to 26 minutes.

Team Members:

1. Julie Haller
2. Janice Kelble
3. John Anderson
4. Debbie Schmelzle
5. BJ Thornburg
6. David Eisenberg
7. Maggie Mc Coy
8. Martha McCarter
9. Pat Durkin

HRW again supplied most of the medal winners at the 2022 version of the Kansas Senior Games in both the 1500 M and 5000 M walks on Sept. 11. Individual results are shown in the Results link. In addition, we also set all-time records in a number of events. Martha McCarter set records in both the 1500 M and 5000 M walks in the 60-64 division. Janice Kelble set records in both races in the 70-74 division. Pat Durkin beat her own record in the 5000 M race in the 75-79 division. Those Sunday morning interval sessions really paid off.

In an amazing example of our geriatric excellence, Pat’s time in the 5000 M racewalk was better than the women’s record in the 5K road race in the 75-79 division. Alan’s times in both the 1500 M and 5000 M racewalks beat the existing records in both the 1500 M track and the 5K road race running events in the 85-89 division and garnered another repeat All-American status from National Masters News.

Two of our speedsters took Gold Medals in Iowa this summer. In June, Lori Groom raced in the 60-64 division at the Iowa Senior Games and finished first in the 1500 meters (9:02.7=76.4% age-graded) and the 5K walk (33:02; 74.5%). In another Senior Games success, Lori took 1st in the Mississippi Sr Olympic in the 5K with a time of 33:30 = 73.4%.

In July, David Eisenberg made a one-day visit to Ames for the biannual State Games of America and returned with a Gold in the 70-74 division with the swift time of 9:18.17=80.05%). The age-graded values were calculated using the table from Howard Grubb on our website and using the month of birth instead of the lower number. In David’s case, he was 72.4 which would qualify him for All-American status if they used fractions. But it is only a matter of time before he reaches that standard without needing to use a fraction. We look forward to his bettering this time at the Kansas Senior Games in September.

We are proud of these speedy club members who have taken advantage of the Sunday morning training sessions that we have carried out at Blue Valley North High School and more recently at Leawood Middle School. We expect more racewalking accomplishments from these HRW stars.

HRW found the Fountain of Youth in Florida May 10-11, in Ft. Lauderdale, bringing home multiple medals and ribbons. Garnering ribbons were Bill Hebb, David Eisenberg, John Anderson, Lori Groom, Pat Durkin and BJ Thornburg. Medal winners: Bronze-Pat Durkin; Silver-David Eisenberg and Eileen McManus (2); Gold-Karen Swisher (2). In addition, Karen set a record in the 1500 M 70-74 division. All results are shown in RESULTS link. David and Pat were first-time medal winners at this national stage-congrats! Eileen and Karen are past winners and continue to show their excellence in our sport.

Two records held or were broken by the missing in action (due to COVID) past president Alan Poisner. His records in the 1500 M and 5K walks in the 85-89 division are still unbroken but his string of 14 consecutive appearances at this biannual event came to an end.

HRW continues to shine on the national stage with a blend of old timers and newcomers. We expect our prominence to continue at the next annual event in Pittsburgh in 2023.