Walking: No regrets at missing out on win

By DAVID LEGGAT at the Games

Craig Barrett was grumpy at missing out on the gold medal in yesterday's 50km walk.

Perhaps his race plan was wrong, the conditions threw him, the course was too tough and he was hampered by the rain?

Wrong.

Barrett was beaten by a better walker, Australian world No 3 Nathan Deakes. Barrett had no complaints on that score and had plenty of reason to be proud of his achievement.

Deakes, a politely spoken 24-year-old from Geelong in Victoria, had already dominated the 20km walk less than 48 hours earlier.

He won yesterday in a Games record 3h 52m 40s, with Barrett, his only challenger of any significance in the nine-strong field, clocking 3h 56m 42s.

If the Waikato man was carrying any emotional baggage from his stumbling, staggering collapse within sight of the gold medal in Kuala Lumpur four years ago, he did not show it.

His attitude is very much "that was then, this is now."

He does not dwell on what he cannot change.

Barrett went into the race knowing that Deakes, at some point, would be hurting from his event on Monday. He hoped to capitalise.

From as early as the 5km mark it was clearly going to be a duel between the pair.

But when Deakes, who appeared at stages to be walking illegally, made his move at the 25km mark, Barrett was unable to peg him back.

Deakes walked for a total of 5h 18m 15s over the two races. You need a certain mindset to do that.

If running is the purest form of athletic endeavour, race walking must be the strangest.

The temptation to break stride, with legs aching beneath the hip-wrenching gait, must be overwhelming. In their own way, the men and women of what is often described as the heel-and-toe discipline require as much self-discipline as any sport.

When Barrett saw Deakes ease he ignored the urge to catch up.

"I had a very disciplined race plan where at that point I was doing nine-minute laps," he said. "I didn't want to go any faster at that stage. I was trusting that Nathan would fall back."

But Deakes is a special athlete who rarely gives his rivals a glimmer of hope.

He did open the door a smidgeon when, at the 28km mark, he stopped for a few moments with cramps.

Barrett did not actually see that, but he sensed something was up when he saw the eyes of the many New Zealand supporters lining the course "lit up like lightbulbs."

When Manchester turned on a thunderstorm of such intensity that the rain was bouncing back up off the street, it demanded some care from the walkers.

But it was no disadvantage for the man in pursuit.

"I didn't feel it made it any harder to catch him," Barrett said. "Actually, it made it quite pleasant, but maybe not for the spectators."

The race, 25 laps of a 2km circuit, was run around the cobbled streets of Salford Quays, an area of what one official called "social regeneration."

Translation: it used to be the Manchester docks, where only the toughest hombres ventured out at night. Now it has become one of the more desirable areas of the city.

Barrett talked after the race about mental strength. He wondered about whether New Zealanders had an inferiority complex at times, particularly when it came to being up for a tough sporting challenge.

The point was that while he respected Deakes, he did not fear him. He was simply beaten by a superior athlete on the day.

"I didn't come into this race thinking that. ButI take my hat off to him. He's done his homework and prepared well and deserved to win."

Did Barrett have anything left in the tank at the finish?

"I didn't have what it took to get up to the gold medal. I did have what it took to secure the silver."

New Zealand's other competitor, Aucklander Tony Sargisson, was in the chasing bunch early on, but fell back with the rest as Deakes and Barrett turned up the heat.

He finished fifth in 4h 13m 19s, around 11s outside his personal best.

Perhaps Sargisson's emotional reaction at the finish line related to the knowledge that had he got to within a minute of his best he would have clinched the bronze ahead of Canadian Tim Berrett.

Full coverage:
nzherald.co.nz/manchester2002

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