He's Gay!
I do some racewalking, and often racewalkers are the butt (pun intended) of many jokes (and also of many misunderstandings). I don't think there's a racewalker alive who won't acknowledge that participants often look rather amusing. The butt wiggle that most better walkers display is often a difficult and hard-won skill, especially for men.
Without overdoing the analysis, swiveling the hips and dropping the lead hip as you plant your foot buys you a small bit of extra distance with each stride. Since the two rules (and there are only two) of racewalking prevent you from being airborne (at least significantly) - the rules require that one foot always be in contact with the ground (to the naked eye) and that the lead knee be straight from plant until it passes under the body (that's the rule that causes me trouble).
From a historic perspective, racewalking actually predates running, but until the 19th century, rules differentiating running and walking didn't exist. There was a period in the late 19th century when walking was one of the biggest sports in the USA. (A good brief history of pedestrianism can be found here.) Racewalking has been an Olympic sport since 1906 (there was a mid-term Olympiad that year, but was never followed up), yet it continues to be the Rodney Dangerfield of sports, garnering no respect (see this article).
I've used racewalking both as a sport and as a mode of low-impact training for running (the additional foot movement seems to help resolve plantar fasciitis and the reduced impact diminishes insult to the foot).
I recently overheard someone describing me as gay during a walk. I can assure you, I'm not, but it is indicative of the disdain this sport is held in by many people. Oh, and if our wiggles make you smile, go ahead! If you want to argue whether this sport should be in the Olympics, you're entitled. If you really want to make a case for it, then cover 50 km (a bit over 31 miles) under your own power (without mechanical aids) faster than Curt Clausen, the American record holder, who walked that distance in 3 hours, 48 minutes and four seconds or better still, post a time better than Robert Korzeniowski, who holds the world record of 3:36:03. (Clausen's pace converts to 7:21 miles, while Korzeniowski's converts to 6:58's.) I don't know about you, but I can't run 50 km that fast.
Without overdoing the analysis, swiveling the hips and dropping the lead hip as you plant your foot buys you a small bit of extra distance with each stride. Since the two rules (and there are only two) of racewalking prevent you from being airborne (at least significantly) - the rules require that one foot always be in contact with the ground (to the naked eye) and that the lead knee be straight from plant until it passes under the body (that's the rule that causes me trouble).
From a historic perspective, racewalking actually predates running, but until the 19th century, rules differentiating running and walking didn't exist. There was a period in the late 19th century when walking was one of the biggest sports in the USA. (A good brief history of pedestrianism can be found here.) Racewalking has been an Olympic sport since 1906 (there was a mid-term Olympiad that year, but was never followed up), yet it continues to be the Rodney Dangerfield of sports, garnering no respect (see this article).
I've used racewalking both as a sport and as a mode of low-impact training for running (the additional foot movement seems to help resolve plantar fasciitis and the reduced impact diminishes insult to the foot).
I recently overheard someone describing me as gay during a walk. I can assure you, I'm not, but it is indicative of the disdain this sport is held in by many people. Oh, and if our wiggles make you smile, go ahead! If you want to argue whether this sport should be in the Olympics, you're entitled. If you really want to make a case for it, then cover 50 km (a bit over 31 miles) under your own power (without mechanical aids) faster than Curt Clausen, the American record holder, who walked that distance in 3 hours, 48 minutes and four seconds or better still, post a time better than Robert Korzeniowski, who holds the world record of 3:36:03. (Clausen's pace converts to 7:21 miles, while Korzeniowski's converts to 6:58's.) I don't know about you, but I can't run 50 km that fast.
posted by Scooter at 4:35 PM
2 Comments:
Cool post. I've often casually pondered race walking. Injury has forced me onto the elliptical and simple walking for a spell. I find I get competitive with myself, walking fast (treadmill mostly), 4.7 to 5.1 mph (12:45 to 11:45 pace) is really cookin' for me. Can't freaking imagine walking at a 7:20 pace, it's a decent running pace. The "lead knee being straight from plant until it passes under the body" rule is a little weird, but I guess it's intended to prevent the usage of of a running form - I often see people "running" slowly but their feet never really leave the ground, but they're travelling much faster than an average walker could.
For some reason I always get distracted when walking. When I look down at the garmin I'll be going like 3 mph. I admire people that can race walk, because I can't.
And the gay comment--people can be so stupid.
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