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One of the highlights of the athletics
year for both race walkers and 10k runners will take place on Saturday 1st March
2008. This is the Manx Harriers Open Meeting, to be held on the perimeter road at
the National Sports Centre in Douglas. This meeting always attracts many
top-class race walkers from the UK, Ireland and sometimes beyond, as well as
our top locals. It is a great opportunity for local race walkers to compete in
the same meeting as several world-class athletes, or even just to watch top
athletes in action and learn good race walking technique from the experts.
The programme of events for the day
starts at 10.00am with a junior race for competitors under the age of 15.
Competitors have a choice of racing over either 1.2k or 2k.
At 10.30am, three races start together.
These are the Junior 3k race for Under 13s and Under 15s, the 5k race (age 13
and over) and the 10k race (age 15 or over).
The top-of-the-bill event follows at 12
noon. This is the 20k race for competitors aged 17 and over. As 2008 is Olympic
year, it is quite possible that some of the visiting walkers will be targeting
this race as an early-season opportunity to achieve the Olympic qualification
standard.
The final event of the day is a 10k run
over 12½ laps of the perimeter road, starting at 3pm. This race is always
well-supported and provides an opportunity to record a fast time over a flat
course. The minimum age for the run is 15 as at 1st September 2007.
All races are open to both male and
female competitors.
Last year’s Open Meeting attracted another
quality contingent of visiting race walkers, several of whom went on to enjoy
success at European and World level later in the year. As the meeting continues
to grow in stature, the club is confident of attracting another excellent array
of visiting talent to the event in 2008.
As always, Manx Harriers will endeavour
to make the weekend as full and enjoyable as possible for both visiting
athletes and locals by arranging a very informal social on the Saturday evening.
This will be followed by a coaching session for the race walkers on Sunday
morning, which will be led by a top visiting coach.
We hope to see many of our friends who have
supported the meeting in the past, and would be delighted to see some new faces
in 2008. (thanks to Dave Griffiths)
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