US 50km Racewalk Championships

On a near perfect Southern California day (January 28), Shore AC's John Soucheck walked to an 8th place US finish, 11th overall at the US 50km Racewalk. Held adjacent to Chula Vista's J Street Marina, site of the 2004 50km Racewalk Olympic Trials, the race selected US teams for the World Track and Field Championships, Pan Am Games, and the Pan Am Racewalk Cup. Soucheck began the race walking in a pack of 4 aiming for the 4:45:00 2008 US Olympic Trials qualifier. By the halfway mark, the pack was gone, one of the four already on the sidelines with the other two to join the first long before the finish. Soucheck was on pace through 34km before slowing to finish in 4:49:49. Norwegian Erik Tysse won in an Olympic and World Championship 'A' standard time of 3:57:35 followed closely by Ecuador's Javier Moreno. In his 50km debut, Kevin Eastler was third to take the US title in a 'B' standard 4:05:44.