Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Walker Dave dons England vest Eric Paylor, Evening Gazette - Marske long distance race walker Dave Jones will win his second England vest in a gruelling 200 kilometres event in France next month. The Redcar Race Walking Club athlete has been called up for the Bar Le Duc International from April 23-24. 7:03:36 PM     comment []

New Category IAAF World Race Walking Challenge 2005 1:17:39 PM     comment []

Juan Manuel Molina and Jesus Angel Garcia to compete in Tijuana The Spanish walkers Juan Manuel Molina and Jesus Angel Garcia will be taking part this weekend's IAAF World Race Walking Challenge event in Tijuana, Mexico. The Murcian Juan Manuel Molina will compete on Saturday 19 of March over 20 km, the distances in which he was the bronze medal winner at the Championships of Europe in Munich in 2002 and which last year he obtained fifth position in the Athens Olympics. The Madrilenian, Jesus Angel Garcia, now settled down in Lleida, will compete Sunday 20th in the 50 km in which it is a specialistic and considered one of the greats of race walking world-wide. The IAAF Challenge series 2005 is composed of six events. The winner of each race gets 10 points, then 9 for second classified, 8 third and so on until tenth classified that obtains a point. The athletes can at the most add points in three of the five competitions of the circuit. At the end the 10 first men and the 10 first women win prizes that go from $30,000 for the first position, $20,000 for second, $15,000 for third and descending gradually until the $5,000 for eighth position. In 2004 the three first men were, 1st Robert Korzeniowski (POL), 2nd Jefferson Perez (ECU) and 3red Ivano Brugnetti (ITA) and the three first women, 1st Elisa Rigaudo (ITA), 2nd Claudia Stef (ROM) and 3rr Maria Vasco (ESP). The calendar of races in 2005 iare: 19 - 20 March: Grand Prix International of WalkingTijuana 2005, Tijuana (MEX) 2 April: 14th Grand Prixthe International in March Atletica, Rio Maior (POR) 23 April: Race Walking Grand Prix, Cixi City (CHN) 1 May: Coppa Città I gave to Sesto San Giovanni, Sesto San Giovanni (ITA) 4 June: Grand Prix de Corunna, Corunna (ESP) 6 - 14 August: 10th IAAF Championship of the World of Athletics, Helsinki (FIN). 1:04:36 PM     comment []

Jefferson to miss Gran Premio de M[integral]xico At the final hour, the Ecuadorian Jefferson Perez, one of the favourites for the men's 20km at IAAF World Race Walk Challenge in Tjiuana, Mexico has had to pull out from the event due to a leg injury. Last week, during routine afternoon training, the Athens Olympic fourth placer suffered a fémur injury caused by the bad condition of a training track, due to torrential winter rains that the South part of Ecuador. He immediately suspended his training to rehabilitate for his trip to Mexico, but announced on Monday that he's decided this was not possible due to the seriousness of the muscle injury. Now he is waiting for total recovery so he can take part in the third race of the Challenge series in the Chinese city of Cixi - on the 20th of April. Jefferson's training partner Rolando Saquipay (pictured left of Jefferson), who defeated the 1996 Olympic Games and 2003 20km World Champion over 10km at he end of February in Salinas, Ecuador, has since been suffering from a stomach infection, so will also make his 2005 debut in Cixi. Ecuadorian representation in the Grand Prix Internacional de Marcha Tijuana 2005 will be in the hands of 21 year old Andrés Chocho, who finished third behind Perez at the Olympic Festival, and Faustus Quinde (33rd at the 21st IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Naumburg last year). 'My training has been strong and dedicated exclusively from beginning of year to the Challenges at Tijuana, La Coruna, Spain and the Pan-American Cup in May in Lima, (Peru) " Andrés Chocho told Ecuadorina newspaper El Mercurio. 'My intention now is to improve my best time of 1 hour 24 minutes and 29 seconds" (which was good enough for 5th place in last April's South American championships in Los Angeles, Chile. As well as training for the season, Peréz, the inspiration of Ecudarian race walking, been involved in social work via the Jefferson Perez Foundation - which he launched to bring aid and 'a smile on the faces' of disadvantaged Ecuadorians in time for Christmas. As he relates in his website www.jeffersonperez.com, 'The idea of the creation of the Foundation "Jefferson Perez", arose by an initiative from the family Perez Quezada, with the support of a group friends, who really worried about the serious situation and the neglect by the young, old, women and men of limited economic resources in Ecuador.' 12:52:57 AM     comment []

© Copyright 2005 Tim Watt. Last update: 28/9/05; 02:17:03.