OHIO RACE WALl<ER. _:v_o_LOiv_m_v __ , _NID_i_f.1E_i R ___ 9 _______ c_o1_'-UM_PJJ_s __ ,_o_Hr_o ____________ DE_CEMEER 1969~

A HIPPY 197 0 T 0 A wish .for a very healthy and 1:·rospermw New Year to all of you out in mce- ' '··

wa.lking land. The past ye?.r has been very good for the sport in this country with good international victories by Ron Laird, a fine showing in the London-Br:t ghton . ·52 plu~ p.µ.~er by Goetz Klonfer, g_Rod international races ·by Tom Dooley, a· brilliant :.-.. Amer:L~.a,1.f;a(50 kilometers by Ebb itchen, and a second trip abroad by a U.S. walking ···. team. ":,.Th_e sport · has no doubt grown some more in stature and in number of competitors and ha'.s. e'i,nerged in some new areas of the country. Interest is cont inuing to grow, which is fine Hith us as the subscription list expands and comes close to getting .,,,_ us out of the red. Much of t he success of race walking in 1969 can be attributed to the fine job done by outr'Na.tional Chairman, Bruce EacDonald. · Bruce demonstra"te.rl a real desire to im:,rove the lot of race walkers and race walking and worked hard : ~n this direction. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone did not fe~l this way as delegates to the National AAU Convention in J.fiami saw .fit to re place Bruce with the one- time Olympic walker from Pittsburgh, John Deni. The vote wa-s very close, and of course, anyone who was ·not there and forfeited their rig ht to vote, myself included, cannot comr lain about ' the outcane.

, . Certainly I have no bones to 'pick with John Deni. · I'm sure he will have a sincere interest in furt ,hering t he ·sport ahd there is no way · of telling what sort . of; ?, job he will do until he has had t he or ) orttrnity to per fornr .' My only point of cont­~ntion is that Bruce had done a more than ·adequate Job a:nd had expressed a wi],lingness to contirrue. To me, this is the kind of job 'that ' requirEH ·some continµ~ty a·r:i(i· in ·· a . single year a man can only really learn ' t}:le ro pes · so that he can functi~n rially.' eff'.ectively the next yee.r. By changing chalrmLm ·evefy year, we loose 1arr§', inich ·.be·nefits. Naturally, if a man has been a comi)let e rust, he shoulcl be re placed . Otb'.erw±sei, it seems to me a second term should be almost automati'c if the man is willing~ -Pe tha t a:s it may, the fact is that John Deni · i _s our · hew Chairman and deserves complete coor eration from all Ass~ciations. There is no reason ·the 5IP0Dt can not continue to advanc .e as it has in the past few years. The real building still has to be done

tn 'each ' area and t ~e fine work that is being done cy rrumeroua individuals will, no d~bt ~ ·c6ri tinue. , .. ,

' The other major item to come out o.f the convention ,..,as, of . course, the awardi -ng of chajhpi~nshi1:-s for next year. Before these were av.rarded, it WPS decid~d by_ vete · .. that the '20 and 50 should be shared by the East and West, i.e if one we:it to ····t he

east ·e~µ. pa.rt or t 11e conntry, the other would go to the western half. = ,This ··1s· wat I' sugge ·~~t ~d ·recently; although I don't know i.f that had anything to do w~th the motion, which wao presented by Hike Riban. Aeyway, the 20 Km wi ll be :in '.E. : MeKeesport, Pa. (just " outsiae of Pittsburgh) and the SO in Caryienteria, Cali.f .. "irr ·'1970; ::Beyond that, .there is a definite imbalance in the schedule, lookinp; at it sectiqnally, with seven races east of the Missis si ppi and only four west. vJheta.er this _is i function o:f ,the bid~ that. were made or of the biases of the delegates, I don' ·t :·;kn~,. · I suppose it means that all of the walkers in the East are overJoyed and the · others are some-

_wha,t disgruntled.. Eeing an. . unbia:.:ed, in1rrartial observer, I don't really care and · bring .the sub,je _ct up only because I imagine someone else will i.f I don't. It is als 9 interesting to note t hat the s ched.ule · is not s~;read over the calendar too well. · Ther .e are four ·races in . a 5-week pe riod in the crpring and three more within · four weeks

in the fall. And, as usual, there is no particular. sense to the setjtjenc ·e 6:f the . races, but maY,be t~~re shouldn't be. Anyway, the schedule follows (including tbe .. fu.n:.. ioi;- races; ,rJhich are not included in the above discussion):

April 25 Nay 2 Mav 23 May 30 Au{!. 16 Sept .12 Sept . 27 Oct . 4 ? ??

Marc h 7 June 27

Juniors Mar . 14 Anril 29 May 9

June 7 July 12 Aug. 22 Nov. 28 ???

????

35 km 15 km 20 km 10 Km 40 km 50 km 25 km 1 Hr . 30 km 1 Mile 2 liile

50 km 20 km 30 km

10 km 15 km 25 km 35 km 1 Hr. 40 km

Des Moines, Iowa Nutley, N.J. E. McKeea port, Pa. :_;hicago, Ill.

- 2-

Long Branch, N.J . Car 1-,enteria, Cai~ Long Island, N. Y. 1:!alnut, Calif. Atle .ntic City, N.J. New York, N. Y~ ( Meet ori ginally scheudled for Salt Lake City) Bakersfield, Calif.

· Los Angeles, Calli'. Lakewood , Calif . Ne'\-tburyport, ( sane~·rhere in New-England, a quick look at the Atlas didn't reveal to me just where) (Whoops - -Ma:::s., checked another

Portland, Ore. source) Snokane, \'Jash . Sharon, Pa., Kansas City, Mo. Montana Long Branch, N.J . (Has always been in conjunction with ti:e Sr. rP-ce, but a resolution w?s passed at the convention to the e ff ect that Junior races be just that- -- no Senior Championshi ~·,s or open races are to be held at the same time . )

Other items from the convention~ The 20 km Championship will be mied to select walkers for meets in Russia, Okrmany, and France next summer, as well as the Luga.no Cup competition in October . The latter trip will include four men in each the 20 and 50 (the latter to be selected from the 50 km Cham~ions hi p ) but is contingent on the Race Walking Committee raising sufficient money. Walks in t he French and German are not definit e yet, but have been requested by the RV! Committee. The German meet has regularly included a 10 km on the t~ack, so there is no reason to feel that this should · not continue. The Comlnitte has also reque ~ted that t hree walkers be taken on this tri p , although only two will comr,ete in each meet. Alternates are alvrays included to cover other events and the t hree meets are fai rly close to g ether , with the French and Gennan ~~receding t Pte more important; HSSR dual.

Ron laird was selected as the Come.it tee ' s nominee for both t he Sullivan Award and t he Di Benedetto avm.rd. The for mer is given to the outst anding amateur athlete ea.ch year, the latter for the outstandi ng pe rf ormance in track and field. Jim Hanley, Fob Kitchen, a,nd my self were selected as athihete' s representatives. Jim and myself have served in this ca pacity in the past and Bob was selected for the first time. Please feel free to ap i:,roach any of the t hree of us with sug g estions, criticisms , gri pes, or what have you. He will see that any matter is brought to the attention of the pro per re o~"lle immediately. BiJ.l Ross was elected as the Race Walking re pres­ent a ti ve to the U.S ;. Olympic Ccmmittee with Bruce MacDonald as alternate. ()l alifying ti. Jr1.es for the National 1 and 2 Hiles were set at 7~00 and 15:20 res pectively.

In addition to t he Internationa l com~etiti ons mentioned above, it is ho r ed to have a team at the Airolo-Chiasso relay again. If we get a team to Lugano, these eig ht will remain in Europe for the relay one week later. I f two other walkers can get to -¼.J.rope we will then have two teams in the com1~etition ( five men r.er team). I also se e no..r in looki flR over my stack of miscellaneous material more closely that the other Euro pean races are more definite than I indicated above. A 20 km is set for Paris and a 10 km in Gennaey one week later. The 20 km wit h the USSR is a week after the German race, . in Leningrad , I believe. All of these ra .ces a.re pa rt of International dual track and field meets.

l lhile on t he subject of legislative matters, some interesting ma.tt ers came out of the J.AA F meeting held in J\ thens during th e European Games. First, a new definition

-3-of r a ce walking wp c r as :::ed, i.e. t he leg must be strai ghtened as the heel makes cont ... act ,;,r.Lth the ground. This should cause ·little difficulty i.n thi~ country since the

style of t 11e majority of U.S . walkers already copfonns to this stitulation. · It does seem to nut an additi onal burden on the judges, however, which they don't r~a.lly need. It seems dicfficult enough to judge conts .ct without , :orrying at the SEime th ne about t he exact instant at which t he knee strai ghtens . Another item is that heels on shoes are made ccmr,ulsory with a minimum depth of 1 cm and a maximum of 1. 5 cm (ahout 0.4 to o.6 inch) . I have no idea w~1ether this will be enforced in this ·country , alt hough I would assume not this year since it was not discussed at the Committee · meetin g . It would seem that it will definitely affect those who qualify for Inter­national com)•etition, hmrever. i ;here these shoes will come from is another question. The British have always used shoes of this sort, although many of their top walkers have broken away in recent ;-rears, so there is one source . B.tt their . shoes are gen­erally riduculously heavy. (Don Thompson once said that no shoe should be less than 14 ounces or the walker would be in constant danger of losing contact. ) With thf§ new rule, the le ading manufacturers ( Adidas, Puma, and Tiger) will undoubtedlY: ;make s '.1oes to conform , and they should be readily available at least to our international wal k ers. Actually, Adidas made an excellent shoe of t his ty ve, but evidently in a very-- limited ouantity, in 1964. I have one of these rarittes, which t hey geve me in Tokyo (actually two, one for ea.ch foot) and like it better than any shoe I have had, exce pt that t hey gave my heel callouses more trouble than any other shoe. For th a t reason, they still aren't worn out five years lat er. So I will be liiall = set if the new rule goes into ef f ect in t his country. · '(Except that I will have to 1~'ut white ta pe over t he black striy-es . More about t ha t lat er.) The t hird item from Athens concerns Inter national 20 km races, such as Olym:·,ics and Euro pean Charnpionshi r-s. Theoe will no,r be held on the trc> ck, ,,Ji th qualifying hea.ts . This should aid in judging rut will certainly mak e doubli ng in the 20 and 50 more dif f icult. · I would asnume that this ·will not ap 11ly to the Lugano Cup CQ11t etition since tha .t is a team re ce and the places of all entrt?nts must .be scored. It won 1 t apply to the Pan-Am Games as fa.r as heats is concerned until t he number of entries increases s'omevrr1e~t.

Now back to t he shoes. Anot i1er IAAF _rule gpes into effect this spring. This rule applies to all track and field .com··1etition, including race wal king, and covers international and national competition. And t h e rule is that all shoes must be ·· solid white. W

0 di utinctive markings t hat identify .t he manufacuurer. This stems fl:'om

all the shoe (a nd su r,r ose dly money) givea" ~ ys for advert,ising per poses. The rule will be in ef f ect for our national races, ao make plans accordingly. As indic F>ted above I plan to .come with sufficient adhesive ta pe to make· my shoes conform until I wear cut what I have. Being an amateur athlete, I can't a.ff6rd to buy new shoes because some old fuddy - duddies got upset over a few thousand dollar bills stuffed in toes. Myself, I never found so much as a r enny in the toes.

PREDICTION OF THE MONTH- - The IAAF ruling may hurt a few shoe manufacturers a bit; rut it won't do old Johnson & Johnsonone bit of harm as athletes haul out t he old adhesive .to cover those multi-colored stri r;es ..

FICKLE;:.;-FING:Ef?,-OF~fATE N.JARD ( or the dreaded darting digit as it io kno"m in the trade) .·-This month goes to, you guessed it, the IAAF for ~,romoting racism by decreeing that · all at hletes must wear white shoes. \'Ihy not some inoffensive color like ·· cha.r­treasse. I se r iously doubt if Harry :Edwards will stand still for this a nd I'm · with him. For race walkers, black is i ndeed beauti~l. Rumor has it . that cont ~ct J:ooks much more . distinct wit h baack shoes than with ·1·ihite. Children, it is not rumor. I have ,·,roof on film taken of one Chris M8Cart hy, the fa"rted Olymr,ian, .-maring one white shoe. and one baa.ck on e. One would -swear al .' Chris was lim :-1.ng or something, but I asoure he was not . Well, anyway, as y ou may as sume; I think t _he whole thing is a bit ridiculous, but there it is. So live with it.

The Ohio Race Wplker is publis hed lll:onthly in Columbus, Ohio coveri ng the local, nat­ional and international scene. Address all cor r e:J:·onde nce to Editor Jack Mortland, 31Bl~ SuJ11mit St., Columbus, Ohio 43202. Contrary to ugly rumorn ,:·:,ubli s '1ed Ja st month, publishera emerit us Jack Blackburn is not a bearaed 1~inko but 11\erely a Big Red Duck.

-4-After three r ae;es of rambling, I su~ :1ose it is time for some walking news.

Local nev,s- firs t, ~ere your editor won the big sealed - handicap rf'ce at Sharon 1foods over 6 miies 120 y-a.rds (three la ps of 2 mi l e 40 yard course). For tl--te unknowledgeable, a sealed handican is where everyone starts together l ike a regular race and the time handicaps ·are revealed only after the r ace and then deducted :from the ela psed time. This one was a bit unusual though . Since we had only three walkers, no one else to handicap., and tl1e .~owledge that it would be ·unfair for any one of us to know what the handica. y--.s were, we eac h wrote down in secret what the ha ndic.? .ps should be and th.en averaged t hem after the race. Clever p eople these Ohioans. So t he resu l ts were (with actual tir 1es in rarenthes es): I. Jack Mortla nd 49:24 (49:24) 2. Doc Blackburn 50:28 ( 60~ 48) 3. Blrry Richardson 50: 56 ( 58: 16).

In Cincinnati on Thanksgivi x1g Day., Paul Reback won t lte Annual Ft . Th,,mas to Cincinnat i 52; miler in 40: 24 (my trusty co respondent Larry James thin ks. ) ArflJ­\ta;r, he won., and if that time is ri ght it breaks Jack BJackburn 1 s course record by S"mething like a minut.e, if my memory serves me. ( I 1m not about to go rummae;ing t: .1rough old junk for t !1at bit of trivia . ) Larry finished second in 53:34 , 8 after sorr1e guy by the name of Gary something got disqualified. Gary had been in one walk before and had evident l y learned, if nothing else, how to take ar'vantr ge of incomp-

. etent or non existant judging . He sort of jogr.;ed away ·at t he sta .rt and then when Iarry caught him hung on by lit ·tle jogs here and there and finally ran ahead b;f .8 second in the stretch . After some discuscion, he fµially wa.s disqualified. Apparently t his was t l1e last year for t he walk since interest has dropred to 1,ractically zilch. The race has been going for over 50 years with a run held simultaneosuly . The run is sti ll well attended and will continu e . I can't can r la in about t he loss of the walk myse l f, not having gon e down sinc e 1961., finding turkey with t he family much

)'r eferab le . Now the B.lP.. ckburns hav e deserted it too , which has s ;"1ell ed finis.

6 Mile, Oswego., Ore • ., Dec. 6-l . Roger Puran 35:35 2. Steve 'Iyrer 45~50 1 Mile, Occidentc>l College, Nov. 16--1. Larry 1"1alker, Striders 6: 36. 7 ( breaks Ron laird's Stadium record of 6:55) 2. J~n Hanley, Striders 6:53. 0 J. John Kelly, Stricters

7:0 1 .8 4. Ray Parker, &triders 7 : 09.3 5. Steve Nerilees 7:42 . 5 10 Km, Loa Angeles --1. John Kelly 49:17.0 2. Jim Hanley 51 :30.6 J. Ken Russell, UCLA 54:12.8 4 . Steve Merile e s 54 : 12 . 8 5. Paul Roosevelt 55 :·58 . 4 6. Chris Clegg 57: 06 . 6 7. Chris Davis 58:i6 . 5 8. Justin Gershun,y 59:46 (Leo Sjog re n Wc?s 11t h in 61 :51, haven't seen this ex- 01Nmpian in a race for sanetime and it ' s good to see hj_m. back . ) 10 Mile Handicap Cone:i,r ·Island Boardwalk, f-Tov. 30- - 1. Steve rlayden 1 : 17: 29 2. Rufus Reed, un . 1: 36: 1.3 (Act .ual tim es shown) 3. Nathan Rino-ler, 92nd St. YMHA 1:44: 52 4. George Grzebien , J\T•. Medford CJub 1:42 : 07 5. John Knifton , ~lYAC 1:16 :46 -6. Ron Dani el, NYAC 1:18:46 7. Ron Kulik, NYAC 1:19 : 57 8 . George Shilling, NY:-·c 1 :25:02 9. Don Johnson, Shore AC 1:31 :06 10. Howard Palam8rchuk, Ambler OC 1:35:27 11. Bob Miran, Phil . AC l:2~k40 12. G.s.cy West erfield, LLA.C 1:20: 51 ( just recovering f r om a ~d cold t!1at wa.s devel­opin _ g during th!;l OTC DiGtance Carnival 2 weeks earlier) 13. Don Cherrin , un 1 :48:10 14. Elliott Derman ., Shore AC 1:34:13 15 . George Braceland, un 1:3 6:17 · 16 . Max Gould, Toronto 1:28:31 •. • 19. John Shilling, .i.\!YFC 1:29:34 •. ,21. Howie Jacobsen , LIAC 1:28:13 • • • . 23 . Randy l!imm., Phil. AC 1:40:47 24. Sanford Kalb , Shore AC 1: 54:13 . •. 26 . James Pentl ey , Oxford, Miss. TC 1 :43:32 ••• 28. Dave Lakritz; NYPC 1 : 44:07 ••• JO. Paul -Walkovic un. 1:40 .: 37 .( had to get all the subscribers names i n--4 0 finishers) NYAC-- 9" LIAC-- 20 Shore AC- -29, NY Pionee rs Club--31, Phil. AC- -J2, Oxfor d TC-- 50. 2 Mile, San Fran .-1. Tan Dooley 13:42.2 (6:49) ~O Mile--1. Tom Dooley 2~39:30, Bil l & .nne;J 2~02:20 at 15 dnf. 20 Mil~.! Sac~~:t..£. ( tw~ weeks later)- 1. Bi.J.l Ranney 2: 38: 51 25 Mile; Pe~a} .uma Gal .-- (held in conjunction with mar&thon run)-:}.. Tern Dooley 3:37:07 2. Bill~ y 3:¼ (finished marathon in 3:51, ·whi ch means e ither he ran the .final mile and 385 yards or it was a short marathon. 10 Km, Dec. 14, Long Branch, N. J. --1 . Dave Romansky, Dela. T&F 45:39.2 2._ Ron Kulik, NYAC 5G°:38' 3 . Ron Daniel, NYAC ? 4. Bob MiJnm, Phil. AC 52:11 5 . Hov-J?rd Pale ;11P· cl1uk, imlbler CC 5G:39 6. Elliott Derman, Shore Ae 58:39 - - Looks like Dav e is on the road back, which is rotten news to the other tough cats . 7 Mile. Vailey Coll ebe . Ca].., Dec. 20- 1,. Larry t~alke r Stfiders 54:014. 2 . Jim Hanley, St riders 57:28.5 3 . John Kelly, Striders 57:27.2 4. Steve fierilees , Stride r s 62:13.6 5 . Dick Ortiz, Br-anford AC 62:30.5 6 . Paul Rooseve l t, Pierce Col. 62:58.2 7 . Ken Russell, UCLA 63:25 8. Bob Long, S~riders

-5-. 65 ~ 5::i. 8 9. Just in Gershuey, WJ CC 66: 17. 7 10. Chris Clegg, Strid ers 66: 48. 0 ·-, aft a­. a fant start by all three, Ualker ea.sily nul led away frcm Hanley and Kelly in the secon<i half of the race to record an escellent time. Mo. VaD.e:v 35 Km~ Kansas City, Nov. 29-- 1. Mark Achen, Colwnbia TC 3:38:42 2. Bob Ch apin, ICC Pacers 3:'40:32 3. Fred Yo~ng; KC Pacers 3:45:12 4. Steve Nelson, KC, Kan. 3:50:15 5. Dareli · Palmer, CT0. .4:13:47 .• Pal .mer led Achen at 17~ km but faded oo.dly tl1ereafter. Mark ·wes walking with Eob Young in the earleir staf"eS but Bob had to give up at 15 km with some injuries. Palm Beach Halks --2 Mile , S6 1~t. 8--:Bi.ll Granby 15: 55, Jimmy Boyd 18:30 2 Milb, Ser,t. 23-- .Granby 15:54, P.0 yd 18:42 2 Eile, Sept. 28--Gra.nby 15:22, Boyd 18:10 5 Km', o~t-~2. Gr<'!.n by 24: 39, Poyd 27: 50 10 Km, Nov. 16-Granby 51: 55, .Ebyd 56: 40 2 Mile, Nciv. 31-Granby 15:11, Boyd 17~12 1-Hr., Blackburn, Enp. ,° Oct• 11--1., Ron Wallwork ?mi l?60yds l_!m, London, OCt. 15-1. Ron laird, USA 13:01 2. \Jilf Wes-ch 13:14.2 3. Colin Young 13 : 26.8 (lai rd on way to Switzerland) · 2_0 Km, Frankfurt, @er. (Eelrrave Harriers vs. Eintrach.t, the latter club walking without their two internationals ~Jermerich and Magnor)--1. Wilf Hesch, Eel. 2:25:54.2 2~ Ray Middleton, Belg rave 2:26:45.6 10 Km., .. Lw·:f.E.:0

1 Oct• 23--1. Peter Schuster, HG 4h:15 (18 years old, just defected from Ea.st

Germ{l.eyJ, 2:-Rene Pffr,ter, Switz 44: 58 3.· V. Ilie, Rumania 45:37 4 .. C. Staicu,Rum. 45: 55 6. C. Stan, Rum. 46:25--In that Lugano 100 km reported last month, Hahne w- s leading at 60 km and then fell arart. Taking antibiotics for eight days before the race to stave off the flu 'may not have helped. · Selxer was in his first race over 50 cmd drew e~oily away. f rom t !1e veteran Sakmrski in the last 30 km.--20 Km.z._Tur?-n, Italy Oct. 12--L ·Pamich 90:Lf4.2 2. Eusca 92:15 3. Nigro 93:22 4. Visini 93:33.2 Malfff)ian 50 Km.E Oct. 20--1. Aziz Khalil 5:25:27.4 (record)--one co11ld elf an up out there--1 Mile, nfield 2 Eng., Nov. 8--1. Shaun Lightman 51:C9 2. ilil f Wesch 52:07 3 •. R. Coa~ep 52:17 7 Mi;L~....2.. Enfieli, __ Nov~2 (short)-1. J. Oliveros, Mex~ 49:28 2. Ramirez ·, i·lex. ? 3. E. Cam~>ios, i:iiex. 49: 46 4; K. Easlea 51: 14 5. ?ablo Col~, Fex. 52:16 ~~H~,~-TH"H'"'T~iHHH:r~A"'S-iH-H-o~~S"~-OHH~

. Sine~ all the other important ~ublicat,ions ('Time, Sports Illuntrated, Track ·& . .

7f'i-eld, News) are reviewing the past decade as it comes ·to a close, we feel com~elled to do likewise. As we entered the 60 is, race walkin~( in this c ountrJ was just get ting well clear of an image as the "old man1 s srort 11, or at leaot that is t he i1:1.pre ss'ion t,,ti.is young neojlbyte carries .from that era. I 1m sure the ta g was never fully justi:f'..;i.ed b1it i~ vps proba .bly 1nore tmte in earlier years. J.t 'the start of this decade; hO\·rever . _t.Se top meg· included guys like Haluza, lJJacDonald, Allen, Mimm in their late 20' s to ·· .ear.ly ·30 1 s and the youngnters caning on strongly like Laird, Zinn , and BlackbU:fh. . .,

. E]~, .to be_ sure, there were some very tough and grizzled old men who were quite prom ipen:t, wlJ~n I entered the s.cen .e in 1958, and they had been even more r rominent a ·few·. years before. There are equally tough, equally grizzled old men walking today ·; ):iiaybe even tougher and grizzlier, but they are no longer a match for the young maverj.cks. eJ:f course the younp,stert3 of :the dece.des beginnin g are fast a r- ···roaching t h e ·grizzly . st8 ,ge, .-artl t h~ middle-agers of that . time, like lJJacDonald and Mimm, are vezy gri~zly

. indeeo.. . · . , . Regardless of the grizzliness or age factor, there is no doubt that the aepth of . quality p • rformers has im'iroved immeonely during the sizzling 60 1 s. And we. have cane from a 19th pla ce finish in the 1960 Olymrics:, to 6th in 1964, a.nd finally a l::ironze medal and a near .mion for a second one in 1968. We have seen American records at. all distances im".'·roved _ consta.ntly t .hroughout the decade.

. Anot~1er image of the sport, and a deserved one, was that it was an Eastern game. Thus, equally :imr ortant -as the 'improvement in quality, is the growth in numbers of R3-rticipants , with . the sport steadily emerging in new areas thrcmehout the country •

. :In .1960, t ~10 majority of walkers, and !~racticaJ.ly all the good ones, were centered on the eastern seaboard, with a few scattered in the Midwest ( Pittsburgh, Columbus, Day ton, Detroit, Ch1caf6). There were also a few walkers in the L.A. and Seattle

, . . areas, but th~J lagged well behi11d in r erformance. Hungarian refup.ee Ferenc Sipos, . ·,:.:, ¥3-lking fo~ the .Santa .Clara Youth Villape, wa.s the lone bright light in the West.

-6-He won t!1e 1 Mile in N.Y. that year and had set t h e American . 20 km record in 1959., but at only 1 : 44 ~')lus . A youn,":der, Hick Brodie, W'l?.S a l no starti .ng to show promise ~ o?t west and cantured third in t he 300 0 meter in 1960. fut, on t he 1960 Olym~·,ic team were &uce lifiacDo·~ald, Rudy Haluza, Ron Laird, and Bob h imm, all from tbe N.Y. - Philly area~ John Allen from way out west in Buffalo; and Ron Zinn., from Chicago, but having done · pr a ctically all his walking in the east while at We:::t Point. The to p clubs in the early 60 1 s were :t he New York AC, the NY Pioneer Club, and ( ! 1 ~ r.-MTFARE~ ! ! l) the · Ohio Track Club.

Things started to pick U!"' on t he West Coa:1t in t he next fet-r years Nith Ch9-rlie Silcock and John HacLa.chlan riushing a ver'y active ~,rogram in t he Southern California c1.rea and Eob Hendrikson doing likewise in Seattle. There were good walkers comj_ng alon g in t hese areas, like P.ob Bowman and Ed Glander, but th~y were still not threats when a re present ~tive field wc1.s assembled. Brodie continued to iln:"'rove, while split. t ing his ti rre with stee plec:1a L;ing, and was probably the best walker in the west in his ocC8.ssional comyietitive efforts, mostly in short track races . However, the L.A . area really started to come alive when Ron laird's west·ward migration finally r rached there in t he winter of 1963 - 64. Rudy Haluza, then in the Air Force., was also stcitioned in t he area, and the presence of two can netitors of this stature ge,ve a tremendous irnr.etus to the already good comr etitive prog.ram initiated by Si.lcock arid carried on so well by Liard's boss, Chuck Si hler. It provided the needed incentive to make really good walkers of guys like Powm.an and Don DeIIToon, who were on the brink before. The sport was now becoming truly national in sco pe, although there ~s still a vast wasteland from Chicago to the other side of the Rockies.

The 1964 and 1968 Olumpic teams demonstr £.ted a westwRrd trend in the power base of ra .ce walking. In 1964, there was one tJew Yorker (MacDonald), one Ohioan (Mortl.8.nc} two Chicagoans (Zinn and M6Cart hy), and two Californiano (Laird and Brodie). -In 1968, t' 1ere w.-s one New Jerseyite (Romansky), and five Californians (Laird, Haluza, Dooley, Young, and Klo r fer). Two of t he latter were of ro urse transplanted New Yorkers from the 1960 team.

A ver-.J influential ·,·erson in the l960 - 64 neriod was Chris ffcCarthy. Chris S"lread t h e fros :"lel in his yellow rag, t he Arne~ican ,Race Walke r , which grew into t he Race Walker, printed f.l.nd comr,lete with pictures. . He -also led the way in distcince wa:lking, with an examr.le of what long serious training will do even for t he nonathlete, whi ch he readily admitted to be. ·

~ . Cer tainly, California has not been the only grm ,;th area. In t he past cou r,le of i years exce l 1 ent ···rograms have been initiated i n the Ju.ssouri Valley area, pushecl by ! the int;rest of Bill Clark and Joe Duncan in Columbia and Eob and Fred Young in Kan­f sas City. Although no threats to t he lairds etal have yet emerged, their PI.'~gram ·~s } one · of t he beet going, and ps.rtici pation is, after all, the ·,,rimary concern . Int~rest 1 in walking has also s r rung up in such rireviously unheard of places as Montana, I9wa, l Florida, and Colorado thanks to guys like Larry 0 1 Neil, futch Hammer, Bill Granby,

l' and Floyd Godwin. New England, not mentioned before, has had a continuing program,

thankS' r ri !:1arily to the distance buf f s of the Nortl i'1Jedford club. Some very good walkers like Rahmo Ahti, Olavi Yli-Tok kela , and Paul Schell.have emerged . Another

/ t hreat to the clu h sur remacy of the old powers has sprung up out on Long Island under f Howie Joc1.cobsen.1 s · guidance 1·ri..th the hel r, of the onrushing St-eve Hayden and Ge.ry Hest-\ erfield. Strong 1,rograms have been continued throughout t he decade in New York and ! , Nev, Jersey through the untiring efforts of men like Harry Rar,~a ;1ort, Henry La.skau, i I Bi.ll Oneltchenko , &uce Eac.Donald, and Elliott Denman. In fhi 1 adel r hia, Gevrge

/! Cac1µer has kept the fi r es burning . Unfortunately, interest has waned in .Paltimore and

Seattle, wlthough Bob Kitchen and P..ay Somers have come out of Bsltimore despite the i sa.gging interest there. Perha ps Goetz Kl opfer ' s ,·,resence will help to lift the Seattle ! r rogram ba.ck on its feet, : . · Between t'1e . 1964 and 1968 Games, a stron g ,·,rogram had emereed in the Frisco area I ! with Bill Ranney guiding it and doing some fine wA.lking himself and the emergence of \ ;young Tom Dooley and a dormant Goetz Klo pfer givi ng great i111petus . These three form

·:the only club to consistently chalie@.ge t he NYAC and Striders in recent times. The i Str. i ders became great with veteraI' .s I·Ialu'.za:~ahd Bowman receiving help from young walkers t comin g: up throug h the stron g L.A . program including Iarry Young, Larry Walker, & Jiln. Han:

-7-In our own Ohio area, we continue to hold a hard core <:>f loyalists (Duckham,

Yarcho, Arnold, and Doc filackburn go back to the dark ages) ani have ke pt a zillion others caning and going through the years. Hor.efully, the ['resent crop will prove more durable. Dale · Arnold and Doc Blackburn have contributed much to the sport be­yond their com1·,etitive efforts. Chuck Herman in Pittsburgh ahs done an out.standing jpb t hrou ..,.h the years . Bill Ross, Mike Riban, and Ted 1

·1aydon contim.;,e to kee p things

hopping in Chicago and certainly the area has contributed its .share of top walkers t l1rmigh t he decade (Zinn, M6Carthy, Akos Szekely, Matt Rutyna, Rimas Vaicaitis, l11!1 Clinton, and, for a while, Ron laird, to · name the best). So we ::;ee the sport has : . sr,read tremendously in the ::-a.st 10 years, St P.rting from a stronghold on the eastern. seabcard augmented by a smattering of walkers in th e Nid,.rest and a handful elGe°l'(l;:t.e·r..e, the interest hac s :1read throughout the country and hor effllly the trend will cont.in~~.

THE Dt:CAIJE ·· · Certainly no one individual ·tmo been aeything like solely r ·es ::,onsible for th~ , ·.· · growth and progress discussed above. I ha e triea. to mer.tion most' of those .. ~rho heve r le.yed an imriorte. .nt role, either as promoters or can 1--etitors. fut t h.e one man l'Jho has undoubtedly done more than anyone else is Charlie Si l cock. He first did ? ,:trem­enc.loti~ job in bnildin_g a ~,rogram in Southern California, v-1hich has· certainly b~~~, : very :imnortant to the overall progress . He served as National Chairman through . very imn6rt? .nt times and, of most importance, has continued to work untirinii1and . unself- · ishly in: the · be.ck~round. He probably devotes more hour,s to t he sport than aeyone in the country and has shown as much devotion and interes~ to race walking as any6n~ . out slogging through their 100 miles a week. His only r(;}wards h;i e been in the per­formances of others and in occassional digs fran peo ple . like the ORW editor. Although I have not always agreed with his methods or go~ls (o:r he wi t h mine) and have said so, I have certainly never question ed his inter~st and sincerity or theover?U ~ood 'he · has done. With this in mind, t he Ohio .Rae~ ~·Jalker is :,reparing for Charli? a srecial awe..rd as America IS Race Walking Man of the · Decade. This is t)1e leak,t ' vfe .. ar.-d the rest of t !1e waL1<ing fraternity can do to re pay Charlie for his year 1

8 'of unself­ish' -' work. The award will be "'resented a,t ~ome ,fy.ture ~lki!1..g race •

..

WAL KER OF TH.F Ot:CAO:E . . ·~

· ··. The Ohio Race \/alker is also pr t:senting a. s '1ecial award to the walke,r . we d~ig.mte as American Race Wal ker of the Decade. To keer, y ou fra!l. sus pense, : I a.ff.er . the . 'fol.-

, lowing ranking of U.S. walkers fo r the 1960 1 s, bc'l.sed solely on my own- sub4e.ctive ,iudge111ent : , ·

,, .l;

1. Ron laird 2. Ron Zinn 3. Rudy Haluza

·4 • . Larry Young

Ron 1 ·ill also be rresented a handsc':me award at some future event. The growing list of accom r lishments on his part clearly stamp him as Walker of the Decade. Ron haG been a dominant figure in U.S . walk i ng throughout this period . Although not at t he very to p in ev 1ry year, he has certainly been there oftea and never far from it. For the past three yea.rs, he has been virtually unchallenged when at his best. The only real · blemish on his career is an unfortunatQly ~oar record in the Ol~n~icG but having . been to the Olymrics three tjJnes is a significant accomy;lishment in itseif. ~is Olym.'-ic failures ha ,•e certainly been atoned for in other international comretit ­ion; undefeated Euro pean tours in 1967 and 1969, a third in t :1e 1967 Lugano Cup 20 Km, and a close . third in last sum.mer' s Triangular 20 lon behind two · of the all - time · greats, Paul Nihill and Vladimir Golubnichiy. Practically all of his 50 national titles have been won durng thi:::; deca de, ranging ove!' all the cham~~ionships distances from 1 Mile to 50 km. e has broken a'1d rebroken innumerable U.S. records from 1000 meters to 25 m5.les and currently holds a .few million records. There ca,n be little

-8-dou],t ·t!'lat Ron Zinn WPS a tougher corn1·,etitor when the two were going against e;:ich other and beat Laird many times on shear guts . Nevertheless, Laird w- s able to Nin some imnorta .nt r<'lces from Zinn including the 1963 and 1964 20 Km titles, both rather'. dec ­isi, ely. Laird has alwc?.ys been one of the best Gtylicts a 1~d has wow several ORW style l"rizes .

Ron Zinr . ~s as fierce a competitor as I have known in r~.ce walking and rrobably had a winnil1g;lgainst laird in head - to - head races . His sixth pla _ce in the Tokyo C'1.•1rn:-,,ics was a'· tremenci ous performance, one that he went far into himself to attain. During his five comretitive seasons, he won 16 national titles, all excert the 1960 35 km at distances of 20 km Gr less . At ·the time of his death in Viet Nam:. he held outdoor records at 2, 3, 4, and 5 miles and 4 km, ;,lus the indoor 1 mile record. His tenaciousness made him extremely diff' i cult to beat in track rc=tces where he would get the lead and s T)rintJstraightaways at any challenge. As his list of titles indicates, he did not s ran the distances as succesnfully as Laird and confined most of his comp­etition to shorter distances but we.s strong enough for fourth in the 1964 50 km 0ly­m··ic trial. .But for his unfortunate death in Viet Nam the decision for Walker of the D~cade may well he.ve been much more difficult.

Rudy Haluza started the decade as our best middle distance walker with 1960 MU titles at 3, 10, ~o, and 30 kms. For the next 5 years he had only occassional comp­etitive efforts in this country, but did quite well in England in 196ID and 1962 while stationed there. He finished .fifth in the 1964 20 km 0lym!~ic Trial. In 1966, he suddenly reap '. eared on the scene and in a big way. After a series of fast races f:r:-orn 2 miles through 10 miles, he was an easy winner in both the 10 and 20 km re .ces within a 6- day ~'eriod in extremely humid Midwest condi t ions . He went on to score another decisive vi ctory in an Internation 20 km with British Conmonwealth walkers. 1967 was a year of inju~y and the first half of 1968 a ti me of careful recovery but sound 17.t'eJ:13.ration. fy t'.1e time of the final 0~ :' ic Tri al he was good enough for third and then in l•JeXico City walked the race of his life vd.th an insniring 4th pl ace at ap.;e 37.

Larry Young WclS firs t heard from in 1965 with some good 1 and 2 mile races in Southern California. He came on strong nationally in 1966 with good re ces in the 10 and 20, a second in the 30 in _ridrn.culous hea_t in Columbia, Mo. , and finally a stunning v1.'ctory in his first 50 km. This was the AAU title race in Chicago in which he beat alvrays tough Canadian, Alex Oakley, in 4:39 plus. He returned to the same couroe . in June 1967 for a 4:3~:03.6 victory and was also fact enough for second to Laird in the

·20 Kin. That summer he won the Pan Am 50 in 4:26:20.8 and then stayed surrrisingly close to Laird during several shorter races in .l!iurope, including a 46:22 . 2 10 Km· on the track in Germany. In early 1968, he twice lowered the U.S. 50 km record . - He then came second in the A.All 20 km again and won a short-course 50 km title in 4 :12:12 . Finally , he more than fullfilled everyones hopes with his bronze medal in Mexi co City.

f:lob Yitc 11en, a student at S:r.iringfield College , h~.G been se l ected c1,s t ', e reci ,:-,ien t of the Third Annual Dr. John H. Blackburn Award. Bob .Follows in the footsteps of 1.arry · O!'Neil and Rudy Haluza who copped tl1is handsome pla~u.e in 1967 and 1968 res r,ect­ive l y . The award is preoented each year by the Ohio Race Wal ker for the outstanding sine: l e performance in U.S. race walking during the year. Eob captures the 1969 pr~ze for his outstanding 50 km on the Point Pl easant , N. J. track last April 20. Bob1 s . 4: 19: LQ broke Larry Young1 s official American record of 4: 21: 01.8 but cannot be recog­nized since it ~s set during a 50 mile race that he did not finish. · Kitchen's per­fbrmance, good for twelfth place an the World .All~-Time list, was set at the tender age of 21.

-9-LATE RESULTS: 20 Km (Track), Dec. 28-:- 1. Goetz Klo "fe r 92:24 2. Bill Ranney l:4/+:50 3. Steve , _ ·Lund' 'l:56 - A great wnlk ~r Goets to ca p they ear . He stormed through 10 km in 45:14 and 15 in ap nroxima.tely 1:98 :34. Tom Dooley had 45:2S at 10 km, but stop :,ed at 7 miles (51 -:26) .having been sick in the mif dl e of the week. Bill Ra.nr1ey we,s al,_s,6 well 1:elow r ar, •having been in bed wit h tl1e flu fo r four days. ·· ·, . 1 M:i_le Handicap, N.Y. , Dec. 5- -l. Clarence . Euschert (100 yds) 6:37 2 . Dave Romansky (scratch) 6:J8 J . Ron Kulik (sc) 6:39. 1 Mile, N.Y., Dec. 20--1. Dave .Homan.sky, 6:29 2 . Ron:K:i.i.lik 6:3 8 .3 . Ga!';':rHesterfield 6:42 4. Howard Palamarchuk (200 yds) 6:48 · ·· 5. Ron D~niel 6:'.5l ·.· 6. George Shi l ling (60 yr's) 7:06 7, Greg Diebold 7:10 ,?, • .. J_qhn, Shilling (60·yds) 17:12

Or grea~ interest to a figure filbert (I1U1neric as well as feminine) like me are the syilits on Christo ph Hohne's recent 4:0S:05 50 km record . The times at e.och 5 km were: 2Li.: 48 . O, 49: 43 . 6, 1: 14: 56. 6, 1: 39: 27 .4, 2: 04:17. 6, 2 :29: 10 . 6, 2: 54: 08.6, 3 :19 :13,. ~ 3: 43 : 43.4, and ti.: 98!05 . This gave him 10 km splits of 49: 43 . 6 , 49 :43.8, 49: 1+3. 2, : 50 : 02.6, and 48·: 5L8 . The last 10 is a t a 7: 51.8 pace, w hich is a pretty fair fini~h . ' On only the . thi r d and eighth 5 km was he over 25. The aver8ge for the whole race · -was 7: 59 .1. Rather g ood heel and toeing.

Chuck Herman in Pittsburgh has sent seasons greeti.J:igs t o all Ani.erican rac(:} .... • .. walkers and officials c?-re of the om-1. \'.Te are most hap ry to pass them on and wish t he Hermans a ,hap:JY year in return.

. ' . , ·.A sp~ciel. 2 Mil~ lJalk will be held as . a pa:r;-t, of t he Univers i ty of Colorado

AnnuaJ. Invit ;;,tional Imd.oor Track lieet on Ma r ch 14. Thr r ace will be held at 8:3.o· pm.. during the main program with awards to the fi r st three ( possibly five) with a good · cro;,.id, and ;_,ress, radio , and ::iossibly TV coverage . Floyd Godwin is setting up free hous i ng for walkers who want to ccmpete, b.lt he must know before the first of February in order to make the arrangements. Ron Laird is already lined up to compete. If you are interested , contact Floyd at 195 Laurel St . , Broa nfie l d, Colorado 80020.

During two of t he l ast three years, t!1e Ohio Race Ha lk er has providJ~d Style r,rizes ifi:or each of the Sr. National A.AU Race 11a l king Chamnionshi ns. In i96f t l:iese ., ~er e nrovided by Dr. Blackburn, last ye f:'r they wer e provided by irrur editor: 'ri1~'.;·.· Ohio Race Walker wi l l be glad to contirrue these awards if we feel t hey are reaily · worthwhile . I ha.ve r eceived o~)inions . both ways on this matter from various people and have never been fully convinced of their value m;rself . Therefor e , I am seeking the O'"'inions and reactions of readers regard i ng these awards before decidin g whether or not to continue with them in 1970. Let me know how you feel.

On t he l i_.Q;ht si d e , I have been doing a l.it t l e rese fl.atrch and came across t he fol­lo •·ring interesting it em in the May 2·, 1956 New York Times.

A trc=i.dition may have been born yesterday aftern l)OU in Washin gton Square. Not since little Indians chased one another around Sappokanican ( later Greenwhich Villap:e) has that region seen mich an affair.

In its sim ple st f!erms the event was a race, a wal king r a ce around the Square for New Y ork Universit;v s t udents. It came about in re pl y to a challenge is vued by Dr. Lawrence D. Brannon, assistant :'rofessor of general literature, who considers h~nself quite a walker.

11I' m dioqualified 11, he ann ounced. '1P m t i,.,o good. /'.1most a profeirnional. Lfaten I'll W?.lk a mile in seven minut es ( t hu c a (!uarter mile in 1 : 45). l 1hy I walk 24 miles on a Sunday afternoon stroll."

A crowd of youn g men, many of whom conceded t hat they had never walked farther than the m-a.rect subway entrance, fina l l ;y· got cet for the first annua l 1 /ashington S0.uare h eel-an d-toe ma . t hon. Scattered amonp.; t hem were genuine at hletes, including a cou ple of varsit y wv.lkers with nat i onal re "uta .tions.

The course wes shortened to halfwa y arou.rid t he '.--ark, l~50 races ox just a bout about a quarter of a mile. Off went the field with a rush, smack into a cluster of