Marin Race Walkers Member’s Gallery

“Fast Surpassing others as the aerobic exercise of choice”
by Joan Price
from an article in the
Pacific Sun Health and Fitness
Week of May 21, 1993

You've seen them speeding along tracks and trails, in parks and shopping malls.  Their feet skim the ground, their arms pump, sometimes their hips have that funny roll, and usually they're smiling.  They are exercise walkers, and they've found a workout that's easy on the joints and adaptable to every fitness level.

Clearly, walking is good for health.  It improves circulation, burns calories, decreases stress, revs up both physical and mental energy, and makes you feel good.  But can you really get an aerobic workout just by putting one foot in front of the other and admiring the scenery?

You bet.  Just pick up the pace.  As Harry Truman said, "Walk as if you have someplace to go."  Walk fast enough to drive your heart rate into target zone - about four miles per hour for most of us, five miles per hour for hard-core athletes.  Add some attention to body alignment and technique, and you'll find yourself working all the major muscle groups, including those that running ignores.  You get the same cardiovascular benefits as with running, but with only one-third the impact.  Not bad for a sport that's easy on the joints, light on the wallet, and requires no equipment except shoes.

Racewalking is walking in its most advanced form requiring technique and training.  Racewalking has been an Olympic event for men since 1905; 1993 is the first year for women.  Racewalkers approach the speed of runners (and they look like they approach the speed of light) with a five-minute 18-second mile for short sprints and seven-minute mile average pace for 31 miles (50k).  The race walkers burn more calories than runners at the same pace though, because walkers must keep one foot on the ground at all times, using more steps and more muscle action.

World-class racewalker Jack Bray is 60 years young.  (He doesn't use the o-l-d word.)  You'd guess his age at 40-something form his unlined face; vibrant health; lean, muscled frame- and his seven-minute mile racewalking speed.  Bray's body is relaxed, his smile serene as his feet seem to fly just above the ground like a cartoon character making a getaway.  He points out that his hips don't have the "dorky duck walk" we often see with Racewalkers.

Just voted "Most Inspirational Racewalker" by Walking magazine, Bray teaches racewalking at the College of Marin and privately, and directs the Marin Racewalkers which he founded.  His racewalkers are aged eight to 83, and several have had heart surgery.  Bray's mission:  to spread the joy and health of racewalking, which he calls "the dance of life," to competitive athletes and ordinary health seekers alike.

Bray started racewalking after years of marathon running.  After his last marathon, at age 55, he couldn't get out of bed.  A month later, he was still in pain.  Now pain free, he's not only a champion racewalker, but his running time is better than ever.

"If you pass a runner, say hello!" he instructs as they hit the trail.

"Walking takes people who are out of shape and puts them into shape," says Herman Arrow, president of Mended Hearts, a heart surgery support group that visits patients in the hospital and later helps to reeducate them about healthy lifestyle changes.  Many Mended Hearts members now racewalk.

Energetic 83-year-old Dorothy Robarts is the darling of the Marin Racewalkers.  "I'm gonna wear out," she asserts.  "I'm not gonna rest out!"  Though the older Marin Racewalkers don't see age as important, they use it to their advantage in competitions, since racewalkers compete in their age group.  Far from a sport where you're over the hill at 40, with this one they can be champions at 70.

Bray and his racewalkers encourage younger people to try their sport.  "Some of us got into this much too late," says John Levinsohn.  "We jogged for 20, 30, years and didn't realize that this was even available."

At the end of the workout, Bray personally escorts every person to the "finish line," cheering them on, coaxing out that last minute of speed and energy.  Everyone's a winner!  Then he draws everyone together for a tai chi cool-down and hand-holding circle.  "This is the only program in the nation that gives you racewalking with chi-qung exercises, with the salt and pepper and parsley of tai chi to cool down your mind and body," says Bray.  "We feel like we're very special men and women every time we come out and racewalk, because we energize ourselves, we go beyond speed, we move ourselves to higher realms."