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Race Walking

Welcome to the Home of Race Walk in San Diego!

 


2021 USATF Men’s 50km & Women’s 35km Race Walk Championships

(Serves as the U.S. Trials for the 2021 Pan American Race Walk Cup 35km events)

USATF San Diego has had the pleasure of hosting this Championships in Santee, CA for the last few years and this year's event saw athletes from all over the country, and several from other countries, compete in one of the first Championships conducted under the safety regulations and restrictions put in place due to Covid-19. This year also marked the first year the women's championship race was conducted at 35K


Link to Splits and Results

USATF San Diego members Robyn Stevens and Nick Christie cemented their domination of the 50k Men’s and 35k Women’s, respectively, with 1st Place times. Robyn Stevens also set several National Records along the way.

Column: Artist, 4, featured in re-opened Union Bank in La Mesa - The San Diego Union-Tribune
  Article Below
 
 
Robyn Stevens and Nick Christie, national race walk championship winners, share a buss at the end of the Santee competition.
Robyn Stevens and Nick Christie, national race walk 2021 championship winners, share a buss at the end of the Santee competition.
(Paul Nestor photo)


Winners share kiss: Paul Nestor was photographing the 2021 Race Walking National Championships in Santee when something strange happened.

Due to COVID-19, no spectators were allowed at this year’s event on Feb. 28. So Nestor was surprised as he took pictures of the men’s 50K winner with the women’s 35K winner when someone yelled to the men’s champion: “Give her a kiss!”
 

“Boy, that’s a little aggressive,” Nestor thought, not to mention it violated social-distancing guidelines.
 

Little did he know that the men’s champion, Grossmont High graduate Nick Christie, 29, was dating the women’s champion, Robyn Stevens. Christie, a longtime El Cajon resident, recently moved north to Vacaville to join her.
 

What are the odds that both would win national titles on the same day?

The couple earned $16,000 for their victories in Santee ($8,000 each), the largest payday of any endurance event in San Diego County, according to event spokesman Dan Cruz.
 

Both competitors hope to qualify for the summer Olympics, which means each has to be ranked in the top 60 in the world. Stevens is the 49th fastest race walker in the 20K event, while Christie is sitting at 59th in the 50K.
 

They are planning to compete in the Olympic Team Trials in late June in Eugene, Ore., after which invitations to the summer games will be sent.

Christie and Stevens are clearly a power “walking” couple.

3/1/2021 San Diego Union-Tribune - Metro - eNewspaper 

Race walker Lepe back with win

Spring Valley resident keeps eye on making U.S. Olympic team
BY GLAE THIEN SANTEE

After 13 months without competing due to the pandemic and canceled races, Spring Valley’s Celina Lepe returned to race walking and soon experienced a tight calf muscle.

Yet Lepe drew on some inner motivation to prevail with a personal best of 1 hour, 42 minutes, 4 seconds in the women’s 20K invitational on Sunday to put her on track for her Olympic Trials berth secured a year ago.

Lepe’s triumph was part of a race slate that included the USAFT Men’s 50K and Women’s 35K Race Walk Championships on the 1.25K course adjacent to the Trolley Square shopping center.

“The beginning of the race was not so fun,” said Lepe, who improved her personal best by 41 seconds. “My calf was really tight, and I didn’t know what was going to happen. I started talking to myself and connected my spirit to my body, and before I knew it, that pain was gone.”

Lepe last competed in the same event conducted in January a year ago. This time, though, given pandemic protocol, no spectators were allowed.

“I started looking at all the other athletes out there, and I wanted to walk next to them,” said Lepe, 25, a Monte Vista High alum. “I’d catch up and say, ‘Good job.’ We all need support out there. Even though they didn’t know it, they were helping me.”

Added backing also came from her boyfriend and fellow competitor, Emmanuel “Natos” Corvera, the two-time defending men’s 20K champion, who has also qualified for the Olympic Trials.

Unlike Lepe, though, Corvera couldn’t overcome injury woes and dropped out with five kilometers to go because of hip and calf pains. This came after he recovered from COVID19 suffered last June.

“I had to change my complete training program then. It was bit frustrating because I felt that I was taking all the proper precautions,” said Corvera, 26, of Spring Valley. “Besides that, how do you train when you don’t have a race as a carrot on the stick?”

On a winning day for couples, two-time women’s 50k champion Robyn Stevens added to her string of victories in the new 35K international distance (3:01:11), and her boyfriend, former El Cajon resident Nick Christie, won the men’s 50K (4:10:53).

“I’m excited for the first official 35K, so I can check that off,” said Stevens, 37, of Vacaville, who is accomplished at both 20K and 50K. “The training’s about the same. Mostly, it was getting back into the rhythm of racing again.”
Former El Cajon resident Katie Burnett was expected to challenge Stevens, but she was disqualified midway through the race.

It is forecast that the 35K will be adopted for men in place of the 50K, still on the next Olympic menu.

“I had to do some soul searching,” said Christie, 29, of Vacaville, who set the American course record (4:09:32) in 2018 but placed third last year (4:27:28). “Last year, I said that was my last 50K ever, but this could be the last 50K (here), and I really wanted to win it.”

Andres Gustafsson, a onetime Coronado resident, was disqualified early in the race, and returning runner-up Matthew Forgues, of Chula Vista, withdrew in the first lap without comment.

Stevens and Christie each earned $8,000.

3/1/2021 San Diego Union-Tribune - Metro - eNewspaper
Thien is a freelance writer

Racewalk.com - Race Walking Photo Stories

2021-USATF-50K-35K-RW-Championships-2-1.jpg


National Records in the 75-79 age group for the Women’s 25k (3:36:02), 30k (4:21:26), and 35k (5:06:10) were broken by USATF Southern California and So Cal Track Club member, Darlene Backlund. Darlene also took 5th place, overall, in the Women’s 35k. 



2020 USATF 50km Race Walk Olympic Trials, 2020 50Km Race Walk Women's Open and Master's Championships, 2020 50Km Race walk Men's Invitational and Master's Championships: The USATF 50km Race Walk Championships were hosted by USATF SD-I on a beautiful, dry day in Santee, CA.  Read the local coverage in the San Diego Union-Tribune and NBC San Diego Live and NBC San Diego, and check out the complete results:
  • USATF 50km Race Walk Olympic Trials - Men
  • USATF 50km Race Walk Championships - Women
  • USATF 50km Race Walk Championships - Master's Women
  • International 50km Race Walk - Open Results
  • 20km Invitational Race Walk
  • 10km Invitational Race Walk
  •  

July 13, 2019 Racewalk Results:  50km Track Results

March 3, 2019 Racewalk Results:  Cuyamaca Racewalks

2019 USATF 50km Race Walk Championships: The USATF 50km Race Walk Championship were hosted by USATF SD-I on an unseasonably warm, dry day in Santee, CA.  Read the local coverage in the San Diego Union-Tribune, and check out the complete results:
  • USATF 50km Race Walk Championships - Men
  • USATF 50km Race Walk Championships - Women
  • International 50km Race Walk - Men
  • International 50km Race Walk - Women
  • 20km Invitational Race Walk
  • 10km Invitational Race Walk
  • 5km Invitational Race Walk
San Diego has a variety of race walking opportunities for walkers of all ages and abilities. Scroll down for the calendar of race walking events in San Diego!

Local Clubs: For younger walkers, several youth clubs offer regular practices and competitions in various locations around the county. Check out our club listing page and contact a club near you to see if they offer race walking.  
See also: www.racewalk.com 
 


Additional Resources:

 Want to learn more about race walk?
 
  • Check out RaceWalk.com!
  • Learn race walk technique at RaceWalkClinic.com
  • Contact our Race Walk Chair, Tim Seaman, with additional questions. 


2018 Event Schedule
Date Event Results
1/28/18 Cuyamaca Classic - 3km RW Results
6/3/18 USATF 10km Race Walk National Championship (also the USATF San Diego 10km RW Association Championship) Results
8/1/18 1-Mile Tim Seaman Race Walk at San Diego City College - Summer Nights T&F Meet (check the event schedule, race starts at 5:45pm)  

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