2012 - Penn Relays Men's Race Walk

We could not have asked for better weather than we got for the 2012 Penn Relays race walks. After a week of ever changing weather forecasts we got a cool, dry sunny day – perfect race conditions for what would be a very competitive field.

The first race was the Men’s 10K race walk. We had Junior, Open and Masters divisions with a total of 14 competitors. The Open race turned into quite a battle with local Richard Luettchau representing the Shore AC pushing the pace and Samuel Babativa of Puerto Rico and Michael Mannozzi of Miami Valley TC laying chase. Luettchau looked in control and a few times Mannozzi appeared to be fading. However, Mannozzi, who likes to be known as the Italian Stallion, also really wanted to win a watch. Luettchau appeared to be in control with two laps to go and got ready to put on the after burners when Mannozzi broke out another gear at the 400m mark. He left both Babativa and Luettchau standing still. Luettchau had a little left in the tank to push past Babativa for an uncontesting second place. Babativa finished an impressive third.

In the Masters race Dave Talcott walked unchallenged from our other Masters competitor Bill Vayo. Unforuntately, given the time contraints of the track the time standards for qualifying are quite tight.

In the Junior race Lucus Bourget held on to win the junior title after Anthony Peters made up a lot of ground and almost caught him at the finish. Not far back was Anthony's twin brother Alex who finished third.

Josh Wiseman take the lead from the gun.

Wiseman looked comfortable but floaty. Ultimately the judges felt the same way disqualifying him before the finish.

Lucus Bourget leading the Junior field early in the race.

Alex Peters sporting the vibrant compression socks.

Anthony Peters trailing his brother.

Dave Talcott taking control of the Masters division early.

The story continues...

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