A report on the selection of the first World Champs Team members
Not only Clausen and Dunn are qualified.
March 31, 2001 For immediate release
DUNN UPENDS CLAUSEN
Philip Dunn's steady, if not spectacular performance, was more than enough to
win his first ever National 50 Kilometer Racewalk Championship in a personal
record time of 3 hours, 57 minutes, 18 seconds. The 29-year-old walked
through the rain, Clausen, and then Seaman to conquer the 2 km loop at Bull
Run Regional Park in Manassas, Virginia this morning. Susan Armenta won the
first ever women's 50 km title, establishing a new national record of 4:49:42.
"Philip's training has been going very well and very consistent since
November," Coach Pena said. "I'm not surprised that he won today."
Although Dunn was certainly expected to place in the top three, Pena was
probably in the minority in that he wasn't surprised with the outcome. Curt
Clausen had won three straight National 50 km's and was ranked fourth in the
world in 1999.
At the start, the race played out as expected with Clausen taking command
almost from the gun. Tim Seaman, Dunn, and the Army's Al Heppner formed a
trail pack that quickly pulled away from the rest of the field.
Seaman and Dunn pulled away from Heppner just before the 14 km mark. Soon
after, shades of 1999 returned, when Clausen pulled off twice to use the
Port-a-John. This time, Clausen would pull off for the first of five pit
stops before 20 km. Seaman and Dunn began to whittle away at Clausen's margin
and overtook him after a second pit stop.
Seaman made a move on Dunn early in the second half of the race and opened up
a 20-second margin. Dunn held steady though and Seaman began to fade around
38 km at which point Dunn swept by him. Soon Seaman completely hit the wall
and was forced to fitness walk the final 10 km. Meanwhile, Clausen fresh off
his fifth and final pit stop, smelled blood and quickly reeled Seaman in.
Unlike in 1999, when Clausen stormed back from a two-minute deficit to win,
Clausen had too many pit stops and too large a deficit to overcome.
Dunn cruised to the finish line and enjoyed a nine minute victory over
Clausen (4:06:14) and nearly 17 minutes over Seaman (4:14:12), but Seaman,
who was walking on empty for the last fifth of the race, battled valiantly
just to make it to the tape.
Meanwhile, Heppner (4:22:03), who had nearly lapped Theron Kissinger earlier
in the race, was now fighting for his life to hold him off. A fast-charging
Kissinger trimmed an 8 minute deficit to just over a minute, but simply ran
out of time and had to settle for fifth in a time of 4:23:24.
"My main goal was time-oriented and winning the race was just icing on the
cake," said Dunn, who along with Clausen qualified for this year's World
Championships in Edmonton. "Maybe I caught a break today, but it's all about
giving your best effort and I did that today."
Armenta was nearly a carbon-copy of Dunn, walking the steadiest to best the
women's field. France's Kora Boufflert (5:07:02) took an early lead, but
Armenta stayed relaxed and patient and was able to walk virtually unopposed
for the majority of the race.
The weather was less than ideal, although considerably better than last
year's monsoon-like conditions at the Olympic Trials. This time it rained for
the first half of the race, causing mud and water to saturate parts of the
course. The rain stopped in the second half, but the temperature never
approached 50 degrees. In a 50 km with tough conditions, usually the
steadiest walkers win and that was certainly the case today.
After the race, both Heppner and Clausen could be found in separate
ambulances, both suffering from fatigue and mild hypothermia. Seaman wasn't
exactly dancing around the course either, but an exuberant Dunn seem
revitalized by his victory and was able to walk to his car under his own
power, steady as ever.
New Balance North Jersey's Sean Albert and Ecuador's Xavier Moreno are the
heavy favorites for tomorrow's National Invitational 20 km, also at Bull Run
Park. On Wednesday, Albert will join his 50 km teammates: Dunn, Clausen,
Seaman, and Heppner in Bishop, CA for a training camp running from April
5-21.
Men's National 50 km
Place Name Time Club Age Hometown
1 Philip Dunn 3:57:18 unattached 29 Portland,
OR
2 Curt Clausen 4:06:14 NYAC 33 Stevens
Point, WI
3 Tim Seaman 4:14:12 NYAC 28 North
Babylon, NY
4 Al Heppner 4:22:03 US Army 26 Columbia, MD
5 Theron Kissinger 4:23:24 30
Albuquerque, NM
6 Dave McGovern 4:29:20 35 Mobile,
AL
7 John Souchek 4:43:36 Shore AC 35 Little
Silver, NJ
8 Dan O'Brien 5:02:29 36
Marysville, MI
9 Max Walker 5:04:40 Indiana WC 54 Greenwood, IN
10 Rod Craig 5:14:44 42 Bad
Axe, MI
11 Bill Vayo 5:23:43 36
White Plains, NY
12 Mike Bartholomew 5:46:06 U.Scranton 20 Levittown, NY
Steve Pecinovsky DNF Air Force 46 Woodbridge,
VA
Erich Cordero DNF 25 Cuba
Dave Romansky DNF 62
Pennsville, NJ
Dave Doherty DNF 30
Arlington, VA
James Mines DNF 52
Dryden, NY
Ian Whatley DQ 41
Greenville, SC
Bob Keating DQ 54
Nashua, NH
Juan Yanes DQ 51
Venezuela
Michael Rohl DNS 35
Cloud Croft, NM
Patrick Bivona DNS 60
Nutley NJ
David Abrego DNS 21
Guatemala
Steve DNS 40 Tampa, FL
Women's National 50 km
1 Susan Armenta 4:49:42 27 San
Diego, CA
2 Kora Boufflert 5:07:02 34
France
3 Sherry Brosnahan 5:19:34 49
Bridgewater, NJ
4 Monetta Roberts 5:56:32 41 Mobile,
AL
5 Jeanne Dorton 6:15:23 45
Parkersburg, WV
