Sunday, May 11^th, 2011

Eastwood Lake Park, Dayton, Ohio

Cool, calm and cloudy - near perfect conditions lakeside today in Dayton for the 24th annual Jack Mortland Race Walks. And with 1964 Olympian Jack Mortland present and helping with the lap counting it was a good day for racing. The event was hosted by the Miami Valley Track Club.

In the featured 20k USATF North Region and Ohio Association Championships it was two Ohioans who dominated. 26 year old Mike Mannozzi, the Italian Stallion from Youngstown and 35 year old Susan Randall from Beavercreek earned the victories, trophy, and $100 each in prize money.

Mannozzi and Matt Forgues a freshman from Clinton, Iowa's Ashford University set the early pace together as both athletes chased the 2012 Olympic Trials standard of 1 hour and 36 minutes. Forgues, 19, from Bar Harbor, Maine, was Maine's high school state champ in the race walk last spring. But there is a big difference between the mile race contested in high high school and the beast in the 12.4 mile length of a 20 kilometer race. Acknowledging this the duo went thru the first 5k in 24:16.

Meanwhile Randall, accompanied by Forgues' teammate from Iowa, Alek Jakobsen, and Erika Shaver, a first year student at Furman University in South Carolina, cruised their first 5k in 28:30. Jakobsen and Shaver were engaged in their first attempt at 20k. In between the two groups - with a split of 27:56 - was Wooster, Ohio's own Chris Schmid.

By 10k Mannozzi had gapped Forgues. However both athletes were struggling to maintain the pace needed to reach the standard time of 1:36 with Mannozzi hitting the half way mark in 48:22. Schmid was solidly in third at 10k with a 55:36. Randall maintained her pace while leading the women's race in 56:26. Jakobsen still matched her step for step, while Shaver, who turned 19 just a week earlier, slipped back to 56:46. Jamie Brooks from Pittsburgh, PA, was third for the women in 62:52.

After 12 laps the leaders, Mannozzi and Randall, hit their 15k splits in 72:25 and 83:52, respectively. Forgues held onto second at 74:49 with Schmid third for the men at 83:16. However Jakobsen was gaining at 83:42. Shaver, at 85:48, and Brooks, 95:38, were second and third for the women with 5k remaining.

Mannozzi negative split on his last 5k from narrowly failed to grab the automatic qualifying mark for the Olympic Trials - finishing in 1:36:02. Forgues, still a junior, was second in 1:40:40. But the order changed for third with the youngster Jakobsen catching Schmid, 64, with two laps remaining.

Randall notched her second straight Mortland win with a 1:50:45. Shaver was second in 1:55:03 with Brooks third in 2:09:06.

 A big thanks to the judges, and to all of the other volunteers who made this year’s event possible.