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Erickson and Tallent set pace for New Delhi
Commonwealth Games nominated athletes Chris Erickson and Claire Tallent have taken out the men’s and women’s open 20km road walks today, the AIS scholarship-holders taking to the start line in St Lucia (Qld) for the Australian Road Walking Championships.
Stopping the clock at 1:24.45 Erickson led from the outset, heading through the 10km-mark in 41:43 before again increasing his one kilometre lap rate in the final stages to set up a convincing win.
Entering the race in great form after a 30km road walk personal best of 2:09.00 only a fortnight ago in Victoria, Erickson was trailed across the line by Ian Rayson and Darren Bown, the pair clocking 1:26.41 and 1:32.01 respectively.
“I wanted to head out strong today and chase an IAAF A-qualifier but that didn’t eventuate, my lap times were good but tapered off and the hill had more of an influence than I thought,” Erickson said.
“I’m pretty happy and know that now it’s time for altitude training in Canberra before a race in China, Cairns for some heat training and then Delhi, where I’ll be disappointed not to medal.”
Joining Erickson atop the dais, Tallent was dominant in the women’s open 20km event, taking line honours in a time of 1:33.30, almost six minutes clear of Zuzana Schindlerov (CZE) (1:39:31) who placed second and Kelly Ruddrick (1:42:32), third.
“1:33:30, I didn’t realise,” Tallent said.
“That’s another Commonwealth Games A-qualifier to my now growing list and that gives me confidence heading back to Canberra for some tough training ahead of the Games.
“Jared (Tallent) and I will head to a race in China before another solid block at the AIS training in heat chambers to acclimatise to the Delhi conditions and from there I’ll be chasing a podium finish at the Games.”
Despite entering the race with an injured ankle after seriously rolling it earlier this week, Dane Bird-Smith carried over his world junior championships form by taking victory in the men’s Under 20 10km road walk in a time of 43:00 flat.
A top-8 finisher last month in the 10,000m walk in Moncton (CAN), Bird-Smith battled it out with Sean Fitzsimons (second, 43:05) for the entire race, the duo changing lead on multiple occasions before Bird-Smith headed to the front once again in the final lap to win, Brad Aiton taking home the bronze medal in a time of 45:13.
“I rolled my ankle earlier in the week and wasn’t sure whether I would race until I got through the warm-up this morning,” Bird-Smith said.
“The pain coming out of 3km was unbelievable so I decided to sit just behind Sean (Fitzsimons) hoping that I could take him in the closing stages. The time wasn’t great but given my ankle, I’m pretty happy.”
In the girls' event across the same distance, Beth Alexander (50:29) was the victor ahead of Kirstin Shaw (second, 55:52) and Nicole McInerney (third, 1:00:28).
“I’m pretty happy with today, I wasn’t feeling great and unfortunately I didn’t have Regan (Lamble) and Paige (Hooper) to push me but the time was pretty good,” Alexander said.
Rounding out the day’s proceedings, Brad Aiton (43:15), entered in two events, and Rachel Tallent (25:12) took line honours in the boys' and girls' Under 18 event, Nathan Brill (22:59) and Jmara Hockley Samon (25:59) won gold in the boys' and girls' Under 16 event and in the Under 14 boys' and girls' events Tyler Jones (14:46) and Zoe Boldiston (14:54) were first to cross the line.
For full results, follow this link to the Australian Road Walking Championships event page.
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