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RACE WALKING - 3.000m inside / 5km outside

RESULTS

A week after the World Athletics Championships in Toruń, Poland, veteran European athletes met at the same venue, in a magnificent sports sanctuary. The European Masters Athletics Championships took place after the 15th, from 27.3. - 2.4.2026.

The beautiful hall and the location attracted a whole line of Czech veteran athletes. Among them, walking had its traditional large representation. The Polish race boasted a very clear website and also its own free YouTube channel, so anyone who wanted could watch the veterans' competition online.

In walking, the start is indoors at 3000m and then outside the hall on the road in a 5000m race.

First, indoor walking competitions took place.

In the women's W 50 category, we had 2 representatives. Ivana Vranková She won a bronze medal for her time of 17:03:61. Lenka Borovičková was fourth, 17 seconds behind. The category was dominated by the well-known German athlete Brit Schröter (15:10.59).

Among the men, we had a larger representation in the top three. He made his first appearance on the masters stage Rostislav Kolar and took bronze with a time of 14:17.49. Surprisingly, home-grown Rafal Sikora finished in fourth place in the M35 category by more than 20 seconds. To win, it was necessary to go well below 14 minutes, in this category of young masters the title was taken in 13:36.76.

Among the fifty-somethings, the Czech Republic had two hot candidates for the top spot. The Spaniard took the lead from the start Ruben Piñera, followed by a triplet Borsch (GER), Nedvidek and Cogan. Nedvídek soon started to enjoy his slower pace (4:38 first km) and he went ahead, snatching Borsch, but still carrying Cogan on his back. The fifty-man team covered the second kilometer in just 4:16.

About 800m before the finish line he pressed on the saw Rudolf Cogan and won the European title in a time of 13:09.15. Martin Nedvidek 8 seconds back he took the European silver. German tank Steffen Borsch He managed to withstand the situation where he faced 2 red flags and won bronze 9 seconds behind Martin. The performances of the fifty-meter men are incredible, the Spaniard was left with only chocolate in 13:37! Or in Czech, a potato.

We were also represented in the M60 category. Josef Smola knew that a medal was far away. Consider that the first three sixty-somethings went well under 15 minutes! The victorious Spaniard Feathersñez Garcia showed 14.37.06. Pepa did his thing and in the end he got into the camera's view in a huge finish of two veteran bulldogs. Side by side with the Polish Molski he crossed the finish line and defended 5th place by 5 thousandths! We don't see this very often in walking. In this year's 16:17.61.. The mighty finish was taken away by the knee, but only the unbelieving (me) could have thought that Pepa would let go of 5km. ME simply doesn't give up.

Another gold and European title for the Czech team Miroslav Fliegl among those in their seventies. His performance was out of the category, with a time of 17:22.41 he gave the second finisher more than 70 seconds.

After a long break from competitive walking, he introduced himself in the M75 category Peter Adam. He finished the race in 7th place in 20:44.44. Even in this category, medals hang very high. Consider that the title required running 3000m in 18:37.19 - Ian Richards.

In the 5km walk, there are not only individual competitions, but also team titles. A team can be made up of athletes of different age groups, and the classification of the entire team is determined by the youngest member of the team.

She competed in the W 40 category Martina Netolicka and dug a row of potatoes with a performance of 30:41.

She won bronze again among women W 50 Ivana Vranková in a time of 29:41. Lenka Borovičková also finished fourth in 29:58. The ladies put together a team and won silver medals in the W40 category, 30 seconds ahead of the Polish women.

He was the youngest Czech representative in the men's five-man team. Josef Smola M60. Despite his sore knee, he raced and took another fifth place in 29:09. This time he didn't have to fight for it, the sixth-placed Pole Golawski was 3 minutes back.

He dominated the septuagenarian category again Miroslav Fliegl - 29:33. He gave the second place finisher more than a minute. George Janousek he ran 33:58 and finished in 5th place in the M70 category.

Peter Adam was in seventh place among M75 (35.21) and these veteran guys took team gold together in the M70 category far ahead of their rivals.

The successful European Veteran Indoor Championships are behind us and the Czech Veteran walkers will be waiting for the Czech 10 km race walking championships in Olomouc in just a few days. See you at the league and at the championships.

PROPOSAL for International open Race-Walking Competition (WRC F) in Vienna on June 04 / 2026.pdf

PS: Please don't worry, if the status of your registration does not appear immediately as released in the system, you will be eligible to participate in the race as far as you are from Europe or have a VISA for Europe. All entries will be released automatically later after check of VISA requirements for non-European athletes.

INTERNATIONAL RACE WALKING CALENDAR 2026-2032.pdf

Hier der neue internat. Gehsportkal. 2026 - 2032 mit day concr. Daten für die Österr. Staatsmeisterschaften Halbmarathonstraßengehen/10km-Straßengehden U20 am 4.6.2026 und weiteren zuführlichen Terminen! Durch Herr Ludwig Niestelberger ausarbeitet. Thank you Ludwig!

RACE REGULATIONS

PROPOSITION

ENTRIES / APPLICATIONS:  https://www.sportt.cz/register/1501

LIST OF REGISTRANTS: https://www.sportt.cz/races/all/startlist/1501

RACE 10,000m as a part of One Hour race / RACE FOR 10,000m as part of the One Hour race:

10,000m race as part of One Hour race under the following conditions:
Athletes who reach the 10,000m earlier have to continue in the One Hour race.
Every athlete registered for the One Hour race is automatically included in the 10,000m race.
No editional registration is required.
Time limit is 1 hour. The athletes who do not achieve the time limit will have a DNF in the results of the 10,000m race.
There is no prize money for the 10,000m race.

The 10.000m race is an automatic part of the Time Walk race under the following conditions: An athlete who finishes the 10,000m race automatically continues in the Time Walk race. Every athlete who registers for the Time Walk race is automatically entered in the 10,000m race. No additional registration is required! The time limit for the 10,000m race is 1 hour. An athlete who does not complete 10,000m in 1 hour will be DNF (did not finish) in the 10,000m race. There are no financial prizes for the 10,000m race.

INFORMATION: Josef Smola, E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need to have Javascript enabled.   Phone: +420 602 216 501

The Czech Marathon Walking Championship ended in a fiasco. The Czech national walking team continues to fall into the abyss! The responsible coach remains calm! 

The honor of Czech walking in Dudince was saved by two ladies: on the racing field Ema Klimentová and on the diplomatic field Lucie Nekulová - finally Czech walking at least has a capable technical delegate at the highest international level!!

RESULTS

Author of the article and photo: Lucie Nekulová

Author of the article title: Josef Smola

On Saturday, March 7.3, the Slovak spa town welcomed the 45th annual Dudince 50. The unusually early date, adjusted to the date of the World Team Walking Championships in Brazil, affected the number of starters and a significantly smaller number of South American athletes, for whom Dudince is a favorite. Dudince welcomed the competitors with sunshine and warm weather (15°C).

For the first time, the new marathon and half marathon distances were started. Let's focus primarily on the Czech track, because everyone could read about how the race was conducted on the SAZ website. Or they could have made coffee, breakfast and enjoyed walking by the stream on Saturday morning.

The race also included numerous national marathon championships, including ours. 5 men entered, only 1 woman dared to run. Nelly Bugarova. She did not finish the race, she did not feel like it that day and quickly left the track. There was no point in finishing for the Czech Championship medal, Nelly was the only one and so she would not have received the title anyway (the rules require at least 3 competitors at the start). It is a question of whether any woman will finish the marathon this year. Maybe Nelly or Štěpánka Pohlová Kučerová will try in the autumn in Zittau. In addition to the personal challenge, the Czech record is also at stake this year. Whoever has the fastest time at the end of 2026 takes the record. And since this track will be a pretty tough nut to crack, it is quite possible that the performance will last for quite a long time.

In the end, not even 5 Czech men were at the start. Lukáš Gdula unfortunately, he was injured the week before at the Czech Indoor Championships. The Ostrava race, from which he was disqualified, is a doubly bitter pill for Lukáš. Among the registered participants, he was also Jarda Moravek, who performed in excellent form last year in Zittau, met the EA limit for the European Championships in Birmingham and the World Team Walking Championships in Brazil. But Jard has not had luck in the long term. After suffering from an Achilles tendon problem, he flew to South Africa to join the training group and unfortunately hit a bump in the road (a euphemism for a hole in the asphalt) while running, resulting in a broken ankle. We wish Jard the best of luck, and first of all, he will return to his normal life in good health and only then think about his sports career.

From the beginning, our group of title contenders stuck together - Head, Pupa, Bunny. It wasn't going well for Zajíček, he was already fed up with the race at the 8th kilometer and it wasn't just there that you could see how different a marathon is from 35 km or 20 km. The marathon came close to the traditional fifty and it hurts incredibly. 3 hours of hard work. For the best. If it doesn't taste good, it's hellishly long.

Hlaváč and Kukla were getting further away from Zajíček, Malysa retired. Kukla drank too much and first turned green, then gray, and even though Zajíček was already losing a lap to him, he quickly gave it back to him. Albert finally retired from the race on the verge of absolute exhaustion at 37 km. The 5 km to the finish line were an endless 5 km away. He went for the title without any fear Vitek Hlaváč from AC Tepo Kladno. He is not in the best shape with his newfound fatherly worries, but he made perfect use of his experience from the 50-meter race, which none of his younger pursuers have. He finished 14th overall, but his unremarkable time of 3:19:49 is unfortunately far from the TIME confirmation limit for the European Championships. But the title counts. He came back 6 minutes for the silver Adam Zajíček from Atletik Poruba - 3:25:55. He can't be satisfied with the time either, it's a long way from the Zittau performance and the qualification for Brazil or Birmingham. The question is what's next for both athletes. They can try a marathon somewhere. There aren't many options. But a marathon is like a fifty-something. Regeneration will take longer. We'll see how much more quality marathon they can do.

What happened to the Czech optics in Dudince next? Usually a large group from Frýdek and other youths start in Slovakia. Due to the dates of this year's hall, only the Kadaň youths arrived. Noemi MajakShe came to fix her appetite after a severe disqualification from the previous week.

In Ostrava she failed to pass the judges in the third place, in Dudince she collected only one yellow from the strictest judge of the race on the 5 km course before the gold and silver ones. She was 3 yellows and 4 reds away from DQ. She simply went clean. In Dudince she improved her personal best to 26:47 and finished in 6th place among the juniors.

In the MASTERS category, her mother surprised with her start. Bertha Ramos De Majak crossed the finish line in her first race in fourth place in 30:02. Well done! Ms. Bertha will be a refreshing addition to our masters scene. She ran beautifully.

Outside the competition, Pilsen competed in the top five Michaela Říhová (formerly Baklíková). She originally signed up for the half marathon, but after an illness when she started in Ostrava at the Czech Championships with a fever (don't be silly, we all have only one heart, it's better to postpone the starts and enjoy it later), she finally wisely decided to take the shorter route. And she did well. Míša showed a quality performance, she will brave Dudince with a new personal best of 25:41, her first time for 5 km under 26 minutes. Given the circumstances, it is clear that Říhová will enter the season ready to be number one.

She was supposed to be in the top ten U23 Elizabeth FranklBut Alžběta is also struggling with her health and a stress fracture prevented her from starting.

The honor of Czech walking saved Ema Klimentová on the half marathon course. Ema ran great, left everything on the course and won not only a plane ticket to Brazil, but also a confirmation performance for Birmingham. 35 European walkers will advance there and Ema is currently ranked 20th. The chances are huge. Ema deserves a discharge for her performance. In the second half of the race, she collected 2 red cards and another yellow, but because she was on the edge of the nomination limit, she did not finish the race safely, she took risks, worked until the end and took the well-deserved nomination jackpot. Unfortunately, she will be the only one who will represent our small country in Brazil. Ema's new personal best is 1:37:11.

The Turnov half marathon was completed among men. Roman Hanyk for 1: 53.01.

A veteran from Rumburk also represented Czech walking at the races Martin Nedvidek. However, this time he did not wear a starting number, but took the referee's targets in his hand. The invitation to Dudince as a referee (for the second time!) is a great personal success for Martin. The Czech flag was also next to the name of the technical delegate of the race. The World Athletics delegation received this time Lucie Nekulová. The day before the International Women's Day, many women on site loudly appreciated seeing a woman in this position at the golden meeting.

The state of the Czech national walking team, as seen in the Dudince race, is not optimal before the upcoming season. Morávek injured, Franklová injured, Gdula injured, Martínková is getting back together after a second operation (after the hip operation, knee surgery came in the fall) and hopes to start in Poděbrady. The young generation hit the famous marathon wall hard and Vítek Hlaváč is not completely in shape again. Except for Klimentová and Morávka, they all theoretically have a chance to do something with it in Poděbrady. Morávka will have to undergo longer treatment. Klimentová can look forward to the season's peaks. I firmly believe that all our representatives will do better in Poděbrady, also on the new half-marathon course. Both in terms of health and performance.

See you in Olomouc for the first league round. And Emo, good luck in Brazil!