Montag and Cowley win 2021 Australian 20km Race Walking Championships

Tokyo-bound Jemima Montag (VIC) and Rio 2016 Olympian Rhydian Cowley (VIC) have been crowned the Oceania and Australian 20km Race Walking Champions for 2021 at Melbourne’s Fawkner Park this morning.

In perfect conditions, Montag (Brent Vallance) recorded the fastest time on home soil by an Australian when she crossed the line in 1:28.50, ahead of Katie Hayward (QLD, Steve Langley) and Rebecca Henderson (VIC, Simon Baker) who placed second and third respectively.

Montag’s performance was a personal best by two minutes, and sets the tone for her Olympic debut in Tokyo later this year.

“It’s really exciting to take this win,” she said.

“I knew this would be the fast hit out for the season because Tokyo will be humid and will probably come down to tactics, but I’ve waited over a year to do a 20km race and I’m so happy to make the most out of today,” Montag said.

Hayward’s time of 1:30.41 dips below the Olympic qualifying standard. While Henderson missed the qualifier with 1:32.12, it was a strong result for her 20km debut.

In the men’s race, it was a battle between eventual winner and race walking veteran Cowley, who clocked 1:22.28, and up and comer Declan Tingay (WA, Steve Tingay).

In an attempt to stamp his authority on Australian race walking, it was Tingay who crossed 0.01 seconds ahead of Cowley, but the win was not to be. Tingay received a two-minute time deduction following a third red card on his final lap of Fawkner Park, and placed behind Kyle Swan (VIC, Brent Vallance) who won silver.Cowley, who has already notched up a qualifier for the Tokyo 50km event, was still happy to take home his first national 20km title in his lengthy career.

“It was definitely an odd way to finish, but I’ve been trying to win the National 20km Championship for over a decade so I’ll take it in whatever way I can get in that respect,” he said.

“Before the pandemic, I clocked an automatic standard for Tokyo so there was less pressure on me to get the qualifying time today, but I was trying to keep Declan company and push a fast time out of him too and I’m really happy with my time over 20km too.”

While Tingay’s final result of 1:24.27 placed him behind Kyle Swan (1:24.08, VIC, Brent Vallance) the result was still a two minute personal best.

In other results, Will Thompson (VIC, Brent Vallance) recorded a personal best of 41:34 in the 10km which qualifies him for the World Under 20 Championships, and in the women’s 10km event, Alanna Peart (VIC, Wayne Peart) added another World U20 qualifier to her list of results, after clocking 48:04.The Under 18 5km races saw Montag’s National Record broken, with Milly Boughton (NSW, Ann Saville) clocking 23:02. In the men’s U18 5km event, Fraser Saunder (VIC, Daryl Biggin) won the event in a time of 22:40.

For the full results, please click here.  

By Sascha Ryner
Posted: 27/3/2021