Miranda Excels in Huntington Beach

On Sunday, March 11th, several TEAM members took to Central Park in Huntington Beach, California to start the outdoor season. The athletes were shooting for USA Olympic Trials standards, World Racewalk Cup standards and Olympic Standards. They couldnt have asked for better weather as it was a cool morning with no wind.

For the men we had Coach Tim, Nick and Bruno all shooting for different goals. Coach Tim was looking to get a good season opener before heading to the USA World Racewalk Cup Trials in a few weeks. He had no one to walk with so it ended up being a good tempo effort for him. He looked good and finished in 1:29:25 to easily win the race. Next was Nick who's plan was to try and help Rachel walk under the Olympic A standard which would then achieve him the Olympic Trials standard which is 1:36:00. In only his second 20km race ever, Nick showed that he had been working hard. Walking together through 10k, Rachel slowed down a bit and decided to drop out at 15km's. Nick was then on his own and cruised to finish 2nd in a time of 1:34:50, an Olympic Trials qualifier and a PR by 5 minutes. Bruno's plan was the same as Nick's but unfortunately he started to have hamstring problems and was forced to drop out at 17km's.

All of the girls came into the race with high hopes. This was Rachel's first chance to go for the Olympic A standard and with training going so well, she was excited for the opportunity. She went out on pace and felt good through 10km's but around 12k's she started feeling really tight and fell off the pace and decided to stop after 15km's. Maria's goal was to walk the first 10km's with Rachel and the boys but shortly after 5km's she succumbed to the pace and went through 10km's around 47:29. This however was a great time for her after coming off an injury throughout the winter and now makes her comeback. The big goal for Miranda was to walk under the Olympic B standard without giving too much of an effort since World Racewalk Cup Trials were 3 weeks away. She got into a great group with Erin Gray, Joanne Dow and Lauren and they all helped eachother get under the 1:38:00 mark. Looking smooth, Miranda finished in a time of 1:37:08, a PR by almost a minute and a super season opener. This bodes very well for her for the rest of the season! Lauren had planned on just walking 10km's to help Miranda and she managed to walk a 10km PR in the process, walking 48:35.

In the next pack of girls we had Little Rachel and Janelle. Both girls had the goal of getting under the Olympic Trials standard of 1:48:00. They had planned on walking together and they were off to a great start when Janelle couldnt hold the pace and Rachel had to kept plugging away on her own. Little Rachel managed to walk a huge PR and get under the elusive Olympic Trials standard walking a time of 1:47:45, a PR by around 7 minutes! Even though Janelle was off the standard, she managed to finish her first 20km race ever and walked a 1:53:37. Next up for the TEAM is the USA World Racewalk Cup trials on April 1st in Eugene, Oregon. Top 5 Senior men and women and top 3 Junior boys and girls will get the chance to represent the USA in Russia. The TEAM already has Rachel and Bruno selected to represent Canada and have high hopes that many more of their TEAMmates will join them. Stay tuned! TEAM (Thank you to Steve Shoemaker for all of the great photos!)