Ballarat athletes have returned home from the Oceania and Australian 20km and U20 10km Championships.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The event was the final opportunity for the under-20 10km athletes to obtain an Australian qualifying time for the World Athletic Racewalking Championships to be held in Minsk, Belarus during May.
The open 20km walkers have until April 1 to meet their standard of 1:36hours.
Many international racewalkers also attended the event in Adelaide last weekend to chase qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics and World Athletic Racewalking Championships.
Sisters Jemma and Alanna Peart both raced well, battling against a strong national contingent for the three under-20 10km Australian team positions on offer. Jemma placed eighth with Alanna third in 49:54min. This was a second qualifying time for the U20 10km World Athletic Racewalking Championships.
Rachel Tallent, who now lives in Canberra but hails from the region, Kelly Ruddick and newcomer to Ballarat Simone McInnes went up against a classy Australian field for the five positions on offer in the World Athletic Open 20km Australian team.
Illness caused Ruddick to withdraw part-way into the event, while McInnes placed as the fourth Australian in 1:37hr and Tallent fifth in 1:40hr.
Tallent, Ruddick and McInnes will all compete in March in Nomi, Japan to obtain the qualifying time for their World Athletic Racewalking Championships ambitions. After the championships, the trio will focus on making the Olympic team.
