One more walk for the fun of it
Two-time Olympian James back for a last hurrah
llen James is going to complete a circle 28 years in the making Saturday.
James attended his first Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., as a 16-year-old fan back in 1980. Now the Sanborn resident is ready for what he figures will be his fourth and final Trials appearance as a competitor, and he’ll be back in Eugene to do it.
James, now 44, will take part in the 20-kilometer racewalk event Saturday at 10 a. m. (Buffalo time). While he has few illusions about taking the next step and competing in his third Olympics, he likes the idea of joining America’s best track and field athletes this week. The trials go through Sunday.
Standards are set for qualifying for the trials in all track and field events. Athletes have from January 1, 2007, to hit a particular mark. James posted a time of 1 hour, 34 minutes, 23 seconds in the Ontario 20K Championships in Welland last September. That was a minute, 37 seconds faster than what he needed to earn his ticket to Eugene.
“I’ve been able to walk that time for several years,” he said. “I decided to do it again. I’m 44. I might as well go.”
Once athletes are eligible to compete in Eugene, they are on their own when it comes to getting there.
“I pay my own way out,” he said. “If I place in the top 12, I’ll recoup most of my expenses. If I place in the top eight, I’ll win prize money.”
The trip caps a distinguished career as one of the nation’s best race-walkers. James entered his first trials 20 years ago in Indianapolis.
“It’s overwhelming to compete at that level,” he said. “1992 and 1996 were my main trials — those were when I was highly competitive [and qualified for the Olympics in Barcelona and Atlanta].”
James finished 30th in the 1992 Olympics in the 20K walk, and four years later was 24th in the 50K event. The Western Washington University graduate is a four-time national champion in the 50K walk.
James now works for Toth’s Sports in such areas as team sports sales and scoreboards. That and his family duties prevent him from training as much as he did in the 1990s. But he still is in good enough shape to make it to the trials. In Eugene he’ll take a first-hand look at a changing period for American race-walking.
Kevin Eastler of Aurora, Colo., is the fastest qualifier at 1:22:56, with Tim Seaman of Chula Vista, Calif., right behind at 1:23:38. Both are veterans who have battled injuries lately.
“There are some young guys coming up, and some older guys moving out,” James said. “I’m one old guy doing it for fun. It’s a transition period. We’ve got some good kids.”
James will get to say goodbye in a competitive sense to Eugene, probably the running capital of the United States, and its fabled Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus. The facility hosts the nation’s best track meet, the Prefontaine Classic, and once was the setting for three straight trials (1972, ’76 and ’80). This year, it will showcase a new running surface and video scoreboard.
“Eugene is a special place to compete. There’s no place like it in the U. S.,” James said.
Racewalking is an unusual specialty, and it doesn’t attract the attention and interest of an event like the 100-meter dash. James said his discipline doesn’t receive the same level of respect in some ways, either.
“With your peers, with other athletes, it does. But in the sports community it’s not necessarily true,” he said. “We’re out there with the hammer throwers. We’re away from the main track [for the actual competition]; they said it is for security reasons. . . . It’s disappointing that we can’t finish in Hayward Field. Finishing there would be a big thing. In one respect, it’s sad.”
James is going to have fun this weekend, and make sure he takes in as much of that atmosphere as he can.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I’m only out there for a couple of days — it’s a ‘stop and smell the roses’ trip. I’m not going to get faster. I’ll go out and try to do well. And if I do well, great.”
