<25.08.06> - Commonwealth Games Champion Headlines Australian Road Walks Championships in Hobart

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04 Sep 2006

Media Release

Friday 25 August 2006

 

Deakes targets Australian record in Hobart

 

The Australian 30km walk record looks set to be broken if Nathan Deakes gets his way at the Derwent Entertainment Centre this Sunday.

Deakes, the four time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, is making his debut over the distance and has the record of 2.05.59 in his sights.  “I plan on walking even times per lap, but if the weather is favourable and I feel good, then I will have a crack at the Australian record.”

Over 20km, Deakes has recorded the world’s fourth fastest time ever and is in training for the Australian 50km road walking championships in December.  “I’m still in heavy training for the 50km championship in December, then the World Championships in Osaka next year, so I am not in the freshest condition.”

Competition on Sunday will come from fellow Commonwealth Games 20km medallists, Luke Adams who claimed silver and Jared Tallent who won the bronze in Melbourne earlier this year.

The 30km event brings the nations best 20km and 50km walkers into somewhat unfamiliar territory.  Joining the Commonwealth’s best 20km walkers, will be 2006 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist in the 50km event, Chris Erickson from Victoria.

Sunday’s race provides the chance for Deakes to become Australia’s all time number one over the three standard road walk distances. He already holds the 20km and 50km records, however the 30km best belongs to Dave Smith, with a time of 2:05.59 set in Canberra in 1986, a time that was just short of the world record.

He is ranked eighth on the Australian all-time list with a split time of 2:11.10 taken during a 20 mile event in Canberra back in 1998.  Tallent is currently ninth and Erickson thirteenth on the all-time list, whilst Adams is yet to set a personal mark over 30km. All four men would be expected to take the opportunity to re-write the all-time list in Hobart.

The depth of walking talent in Australia at present is the strongest of any athletic discipline at a world level.  Australian walkers won two medals at the Athens Olympics, eight out of the nine medals on offer at the Commonwealth Games and the men won a team silver medal in the 20km event at this year’s IAAF World Walk Cup in Spain.

The women’s event in Hobart sees four Australian team representatives in action, including Natalie Saville (NSW), sister of Commonwealth Games Champion Jane.  Also, 24 year old Michelle French (NSW) has been in fine form of late and the Australian Junior record holder will be out to claim her first Australian 10km title.

More than 1000 athletes will converge on Tasmania this weekend for the School Sport Australia and Telstra Australian Cross Country Championships to be held at Pontville Equestrian Park and Sporting Complex in Brighton, on the outskirts of Hobart on Saturday.  The Telstra Australian Road Walking Championships and Junior Road Walking Championships will be held on Sunday at the Derwent Entertainment Centre in Hobart. 

The cross country racing commences at 9.30am on Saturday, with the open men’s event timed to start at 3.05pm. The action kicks off at the Derwent Entertainment Centre in Hobart on Sunday at 9am.

Start lists and Event timetables available from the Athletics Australia website at:

http://www.athletics.org.au/events/meets/timetable.cfm?ObjectID=1044

 

For further information, contact Richard Welsh of Athletics Tasmania on 03 6234 9551 or 0409 820 248.