On Sunday 28.4. will take place in Nové Město nad Metují, the first championship race of adult categories in walking for 10m on the track. The race will be part of the traditional Točená desítka pedestrian race, in addition to the MČR, male and female pedestrians will also fight for the first league points of this year.
The nomination criterion - ranking for the Olympic and European Games - led the athletics officials to organize a new championship race. Qualifying for big races will become more and more difficult, the limits are very strict and you need to take advantage of the chances that the ranking offers. The 10m counts towards the top 000 and championship races allow our elite athletes to earn bonus points for winning. In addition to domestic referees, the competition will also be judged by 3 referees of international level.
It is a credit to the organizers of the race, led by David Šnajdre, that they are willing to add a penalty zone to the race, which is practically not used in our country, with the exception of Poděbrady and Zittau. Hopefully they will set an example for other organizers, building a pit lane is not difficult.
We can expect the participation of the entire top Czech team, and especially in the men's race, where we have created great competition, it will be something to watch, given the foursome Hlaváč - Morávek - Zajíček and, unexpectedly, Gdula. He performed well in Poděbrady, then excelled at the MČR in Pardubice at the weekend, when he finished 7th in the half-marathon distance in a very good performance of 1:10:20!
Rostislav Kolář wrote something about the history of 10m walking in a beautiful article. Thanks for his contribution:
The championship discipline of 10 m walking in a historical perspective - author Rostislav Kolář:
This article is dedicated to the memory of, among other things, the unattainable promoter of race walking, coach, former representative, Mr. MUDr. Petr Brandejský.
The pedestrian environment unequivocally welcomes the inclusion of the 10 m walking championship in the competition calendar. First of all, however, it should be noted that this is not exactly a novelty in championship disciplines. On the 000 m course, i.e. on the track, walkers fought for championship titles more than 10 years ago (sic!).
But let's take it in order, because it is a discipline with a very eventful history in the history of athletics, which brought Czechoslovakia extraordinary successes. A brief outline will show us the uniqueness of the 10 m walking race itself and will surely be an inspiration for our competitors, especially when it comes to the performances achieved at that time.
There was even a 10 m walking race Olympic discipline, already in 1912 at the Olympic Games in Stockholm, where the Czech Republic was represented by Rudolf Richter (the winner was the Canadian GH Goulding in 46:28,4). After the First World War, at the Olympic Games in Antwerp held in 1920 in the 10 m walking race (as well as in the 000 m walking race), the multiple Czechoslovakian record holder, Josef Šlehofer (the winner was U. Frigerio from Italy in a time of 3 :000). The 48 m walking race was next on the program of the Olympic Games in Paris in 06,2, where U. Frigerio from Italy won with a performance of 10:000. The 1924 m walking race returns to the Olympic Games program after II. World War I at the London Olympics, won by Mikaelsson of Sweden in an Olympic record 47:49. The last time the 10m walk was held at the Olympics was in Helsinki in 000, where Sweden's Mikaelsson defended his victory in an Olympic record time of 45:13,2. Czechoslovak Josef Doležal was fifth in the split with a time of 10:000 (he did not enter the final due to injury, but at the same time at these games he won a silver medal in the 1952 km walking race).
If it is about European Championships, the 10 m walking race was on the program in 000 in Brussels and in 1950 in Bern, where our representative, the world record holder Josef Doležal, won in a time of 1954:45, more than three-quarters of a minute ahead of A .by Yegorov from the USSR.
The biggest event in post-war Czechoslovakia itself, as far as the 10 m walking race is concerned, was the memorable match between the master of sports Václav Balšán and the Swede Werner Hardm, held on October 000, 24 in Strahov, Prague, in front of more than 10 people. spectators. On this day, the Czechoslovak competitor challenged the world record holder Hardm to a duel and after a dramatic duel he set a new world record of 1945:20, which, however, was not recognized as a world record by the International Walking Federation due to additional doubts.
It is therefore possible to state that the 10 m walking race is in the history of the Czech Republic, or of Czechoslovak athletics, written in gold letters. And now we can focus on the Championship of the Republic in this discipline itself.
First Championship of the Czechoslovak Republic on 10 m walking took place already 104 years ago, i.e. in 1920 (25 July), at the Letná stadium in Prague, which was also the venue for the championship in the following years. The winner was Josef Šlehofer from AC Praha 7 with a performance of 1890:52, second was Jan Plichta from SK Slavia Prague (57,6:53) and third was František Štětina from AC Sparta Prague (58,8:55). In 32, J. Šlehofer defended the championship title with a time of 1921:51, winning until 23 (1924:49). After a hiatus of several years, the 05,6 m walking race returns to the program of the Czech National Championships. of the Republic in 10, when the above-mentioned Václav Balšán from AC Praha 000 won in a time of 1932:1890. The following year, he defended his championship title with a performance of 49:01. Czech Championship the republic's 47 m walk continued until 32,2, when Jaroslav Štork-Žofka from AC Sparta Prague won in Strahov (including 10th in the 000 km walk at the Berlin Olympics in 1938) in a time of 4:50. The year 1936 is worth mentioning, when two Championships were held, firstly the ČAU Championship in Strahov in Prague and secondly the Championship of the Pedestrian Federation in Karlín, also in Prague. Until then, the venue of the race was Prague's Letná.
During the period of the Protectorate, pedestrians competed in a 10 m walk as part of the Czech and Moravian Championships in Prague in Strahov. Václav Balšán collected the most titles at this distance at the time in the AC Sparta Praha, SK Sparta Michle and SK Jawa jerseys (000 times, with the best performance of 5:43), Otakar Buhl from SK Slavia Prague won 57,6 time.
Czech Championship the Republic's 10 m walk subsequently took place after the liberation of the homeland in 000, the winner of which was again Václav Balšán in a time of 1945:43. He defends his title in the following year as well. In 36, the Na Mrázovce stadium in Prague became the venue for this championship instead of Strahov, and Jaroslav Oliva from Železáren Kladno became the champion in a time of 1947:47. In 26,2, the championship title in Strahov returned to the hands of Václav Balšán from Sokol Jawa Prague for a performance of 1948:47, which he defended the following year as well (22,5:44).
In 1950, Jindřich Malý from ATK wins in a time of 49,44,6. In the following year, the venue of the race is Brno, and the winner for the first time is the most successful Czech Republic, or the Czech pedestrian, the already mentioned Josef Doležal with a performance of 46:02,2. He defends the title until 1954, when the history of this master discipline (as you can see, only temporarily) closes. The following two years (1952 and 1953) were held in Strahov, and in 1954 the pedestrians took part in the Czech Championship for the last time. of the republic in the 10 m walk race in Vítkovice (the winner J. Doležal's time was 000:45, silver was taken by the legendary Václav Balšán, who was already 55,4 years old at the time).
The modern (meaning 21st century) history of this master discipline in the adult category begins to be written in the current year, and we can only wish the participants of the 10 m walking championship of the Republic, which will be held on 000 April 28 in Nové Město nad Metují, to successfully followed up on the achievements of their predecessors.
