For many years, I have thought about how you could put on a walking race for all walkers--not just race walkers. I recently "discovered" such a race that has escaped my notice for four years. And what an event it seems to be!
 
According to their home page, the New Albany Walking Classic 10K, now in its 5th year, "has become the largest walking-only race in the United States." The New Albany, Ohio, event had 920 participants in 2005, 1700 in 2006, 3000 in 2007, 3500 in 2008, and will be limited to 4000 participants in 2009.
 
On the Event Information page of their Web site for the 2009 race, they offer the following introduction.
 

"Traditionally, races throughout the United States have been for runners or if a walking race, for those who are skilled to compete in judged racewalking events. Occasionally, races for runners would include divisions for walkers or perhaps there would be walk-a-thons whose sole purpose is fundraising. The New Albany Walking Classic was initiated with the same goal as a running race – to provide an opportunity for individuals to compete against others and to do so within a variety of age groups and abilities. However, the Classic is meant to be even more than a race. It is an event in which individuals have the opportunity to promote their health through walking and to continue to do so after the event. The Classic also seeks to elevate the status of walking and provide the opportunity for individuals to enter an event that provides a comfort level that may not be found when participating with runners."

 
The race is the brainchild of Phil Heit. Phil had been part of the gang (including Fred Lebow and Jim Fixx) that started the New York City Marathon in 1970. After moving to Ohio and helping to create the Columbus Marathon, knee issues shifted his focus to walking in 2003. That year, with the help of some walking friends, he started the New Albany Walking Club. Having spent years helping to put on large-scale running races, he focus also shifted to the concept of putting on a large-scale walking race. By 2005, the concept became reality with the first "walking" of the New Albany Walking Classic.
 
Their Web site is very professional and well thought out. The race administration is first class, and the course (from the photos I have seen) is absolutely beautiful. I suspect they will have a very bright future. (After all, the New York City Marathon only had 2,090 participants in its seventh running in 1976, and the Peachtree 10K Road Race only had 765 participants in its seventh running that same year--which puts the New Albany Walking Classic well ahead of both of them in its speed of growth.)
 
 
When you look at the results of the 2005-2008 races, the number of finishers listed on the results pages are lower than the number of participants reported at the top of this article. According to Phil Heit, that is because many participants intentionally do not wear the timing chips--preferring to just enjoy the event. That simple fact points out one big difference between running and walking races (though, I admit, running races also have some participants who refuse to wear the timing chips). When you look at the results of the 2008 event, the distribution of finish times for the roughly 2000 participants who did wear the timing chips offers another interesting insight into the participated in the race. First of all, 79% were women. Second, while some very good race walkers were near the front, the vast majority of the participants appear not to have been race walkers.
 
The distribution of finish times (for those wearing timing chips) is shown above at right, and the following statistics apply.
 
For women:
  first place - 1:03:05 (10:09 pace)
  median time - 1:41:00 (16:16 pace)
For men:
  first place - 0:45:04 (7:15 pace)
  median time - 1:37:00 (15:37 pace)
 
While most, if not all, of the walkers who wore the timing chips finished within 2½ hours, I suspect that the 1500 participants who did not wear chips tended to be slower walkers. (One walker with a chip took almost 4 hours to finish the 2008 race.) Item 2 of the Rules and Requirements for the 2009 race includes the following statements. "Those who walk slower than a 20 minute per mile pace and are slower than 40 minutes at Mile 2 will be asked to continue their walk on the pedestrian trail." This suggests that the event managers are trying, over time, to create a race rather than a stroll.
 
Because they might get an occasional runner (or, at least, a few walkers who, in their desire to "win," break into a run at some point in the race), the race management positions monitors all along the course to identify (and disqualify) those who run. According to Phil Heit, this has not been a significant problem in the past.
 
I look forward to watching this event grow as they learn to manage larger crowds--and I look forward to participating in the race. It seems to me that such events could become quite popular in the future given the rapidly increasing interest in walking for fitness and competition.