Athletics: Walker now back on track

By Terry Maddaford

Less than four months after his Commonwealth Games 50km road walk gold-medal bid cruelly ended in a heap in Kuala Lumpur's sapping heat, Craig Barrett is back winning - his sights set on this year's world championships.

Barrett, a little tentatively, stepped out in a Race Walking Association 30km race in Hamilton on Sunday, but in the end had no worries as he won easily in an encouraging 2h 18m 32s - about 10m outside his 1997 best.

"He exceeded the target we had set," said Barrett's coach, Graham Seatter. "More importantly, he adopted a change of tactics - largely as a result of what happened in KL - and that worked well. I wanted him to start at a more gentle pace and pick it up through each 10km.

"He went the first in 48m 08s, the second in 45m 54s and the third in 44m 30s. It was a solid effort as he has only been back training since the beginning of December after taking almost three months off after KL.

"The time he did and the way in which he did it suggests he has recovered from KL. After he returned home he restricted himself mainly to swimming and cycling - and put on 10kg, of which most has already come off."

Seatter said the plan was for Barrett to race over 50km in Europe in May in his only outing over that distance before the world championships.