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Tallent leads weekend charge in China
A huge weekend of athletics action lies ahead with a host of Australians set to line up at meets across the country and around the globe.
Tomorrow seven Australians will line up in the third leg of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge in Wuxi, China, to kick-start a big three days of athletics.
Following his third place in Mexico in race one of the series last month, dual Olympic medallist Jared Tallent will lead the Australian contingent in Wuxi. He will be joined in the men's 20km event by Luke Adams, Chris Erickson, Ian Rayson and Brendon Reading.
Claire Tallent and Megan Szirom will contest the women's 20km field.
Erickson, Jared and Claire Tallent will take to the start line following a month spent at altitude camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, training alongside Target 2012 squad member Adam Rutter, who flew home to Canberra this week with a minor injury.
Tallent said the Arizona camp had left him in good stead ahead of this weekend.
"The altitude camp went really well, we had a good three-week stint over there and did some good sessions up at altitude so I'm looking forward to racing and seeing how it all works out," he said.
"It was good to be away on the camp, you tend to focus a bit more and get more training done. We did a lot of kilometres while I was up there, we got up to about 200 kilometres a week so I think I benefited a lot from that."
The 24-year-old AIS-based athlete will face strong competition in Wuxi, with four of the top six finishers from the Beijing Olympics to do battle over the 20km course.
In what will be a true showcase of emerging stars of the sport, the event will feature 22-year-old Olympic champion Valerie Borchin (RUS) in a rare appearance outside of a major championship, competing for the first time in an IAAF Challenge event.
Borchin currently boasts the year's leading time over 20km, stopping the clock at 1:17.55 at the Russian national championships last month.
World Walking Cup bronze medallist Eder Sanchez (MEX) will start joint favourite in the event, lining up in fine form following his win in the first leg of the IAAF series in Chihuahua and recent victory over Tallent in the 5000m walk at the Sydney Track Classic in February.
Local hopes will be pinned on 19-year-old Wang Hao, who placed fourth at the Beijing Olympics and last fortnight notched a win in the second leg of the IAAF Challenge in Portugal in a new personal best time of 1:19.27.
But it's Tallent who enters the race as defending champion, having taken out line honours last year in a race that doubled as the test event for the Olympic Games.
The Olympic bronze medalist over 20km said tomorrow's race was a key step towards his world championships campaign.
"It's probably the hardest race in the Challenge to win so it would be good to win it again and obviously give me a lot of confidence for the world championships and that's the main aim this year," Tallent said.
"I've been focusing on the 20km so that's the one I want to really target at the world championships and tomorrow is really key to being confident for that.
"It's going to be interesting to race the Russian (Borchin) because he doesn't usually race outside the Olympics or world championships, so it was a bit surprising when we got here yesterday and found out that he was racing.
"He's walked very quick already this season, he's walked 1:17 and the course is very fast so I'm looking forward to seeing how it all pans out. I'm not sure what the tactics will be, whether they go out hard or it's more tactical but I'm pretty pumped up and just ready to race."
Tomorrow's event will again double as the Chinese national championships and, with over 200 athletes competing, will boast a depth far greater than any other race in the series.
Also pounding the pavement on the walks circuit this weekend are Cheryl Webb and Daniel Coleman, who will contest the 10km road event in Hong Kong.
In other overseas action 14 Australians will line up at the Mt SAC Relays meet in San Antonio, California, an event that attracts close to 15,000 school and university-aged athletes from around the world each year.
In its 49-year history the annual three-day meet has hosted athletics greats including Merlene Ottey, Carl Lewis, Marion Jones and Maurice Greene, and will this year feature a strong line-up of Aussie hopefuls.
Hitting the track across the weekend will be Craig Huffer (800m), James Pettigrew (800m), Ross Ridgewell (800m), Damian Rinaldi (800m, 1500m), Justin Rinaldi (800m, 1500m), David McNeill (5000m), Ben St Lawrence (5000m) and Ben Ashkettle (10,000m), with Simon Wardhaugh to contest the men's hammer throw.
In the women's field, Gemma Maini (1500m), Zoe Buchman (1500m) and Lara Tamsett (5000m) will fly the Aussie flag at the Mt SAC track.
On the US east coast, Lee Troop will contest the 113th annual Boston Marathon on Monday.
The 36-year-old Victorian, who recently relocated to Boulder, Colorado and will this year train with a US-based squad, will face tough competition along the course from four-time race winner Robert K Cheruiyot (KEN) and a quality field of Kenyan and Ethiopian runners.
US Olympians Ryan Hall and Brian Sell will also feature in the 42.2km run through the streets of Boston.
Live coverage of the event will be streamed via www.universalsports.com.
In local action, Sunday's Canberra Marathon will boast one of the largest fields in its 25-year history as close to 1300 competitors line up in a series of running events.
Read the full preview of the Canberra Marathon here and stay tuned to www.athletics.com for all the latest news and results across the weekend.
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