08.06.2009

Tallent on track with Lake Burley Griffin record win

Dual Olympic medallist Jared Tallent broke his own race record to claim the Lake Burley Griffin 20-mile walk in Canberra on Sunday morning.

In his last Australian hit-out before embarking on the European season, the 24-year-old sent his international rivals an ominous warning ahead of the world championships in Berlin this August.

Tallent finished in 21:14.57, destroying his old mark of 2:15.43 to claim the feature event of the 43rd race-walking carnival.

Last week Tallent downplayed the likelihood of nudging the record, claiming his heavy training schedule was designed so he would hit peak form come August.

But when the race began he wasted little time moving to the front of the field with Luke Adams and was leading by more than a minute at the halfway point.

He finished almost four minutes ahead of second placed Adams (2:18.49) and Chris Erickson (2:22.47) who placed third.

"I didn't expect the pace to be so high, we hit the three-mile mark in 20 minutes and I felt good so I just
kept it going," Tallent said.

Tallent said the signs were good heading into the European season but would not predict big results ahead of the world championships.

"I'm looking good for the 50km but I need to work on my pace for the 20km," he said.

The win was Tallent's third on the trot at the carnival and he became the first man to claim three in a row since Willi Sawall dominated the race from 1976 to 1982.

It was Sawall's record of 2:16.48, set in 1980, that Tallent broke to claim the 2007 title.

"He's from Ballarat as well," Tallent said. "He won eight [Lake Burley Griffin carnival's] and didn't start race walking until he was almost 30. I'm 24 so I think I might get the jump on him."

In the women's 10-mile walk, Jess Rothwell, who will make her senior world championships debut in Berlin, displayed promising signs with a comfortable victory in 1:14.33, easily defeating Cheryl Webb (1:16.50) and Jillian Hosking (1:18.19).

The majority of the walkers fly out to Europe later this week ahead of the sixth leg of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge in La Coruna, Spain on June 20.

Article by Michael Inman - Canberra Times - canberratimes.com.au