State Walking Champions Crowned & Flinders dominates Ekiden

SA Masters Athletics Club's Kim Mottrom and Southern's Sam Findlay have won their respective Open Titles in the 2022 Race Walking State Championships on Saturday. 

Mottrom won the Open Men's 20km Walk Title in 1:35:27, ahead of Peter Crump's 2:08:47, while Findlay won the Open Women's 20km Title as the solo performer in 1:49:51.

Other winners were Mel Grantham in the Women's O35 20km (2:12:57), Daisy Braithwaite in the Women's U18 8km (51:26), Sebastian Richards in the Men's U16 5km (26:55), and Angelina Legrand in the Women's U16 5km (27:55).

Kim Mottrom

The walkers were met with nice weather in Park 20 on Saturday afternoon, which was a nice change from the heavy rain that the Ekiden Relay participants faced in Bonython Park hours earler. 

Across the Marathon distance Flinders and Adelaide Harriers made up the top five places, with the Flinders 1 team of Bailey Dyer, Zoe Toland, Jacob Cocks, Riley Cocks, Sophie Hlipala and Lachlan Scott combined for a time of 2:14:16, ahead of the Adelaide Harriers 1 team of Ben Cartwright, Aleesha Robertson, Harry Bagley, Lachlan Hall, Tara Palm and Jack Murphy (2:20:24).

A young Port Adelaide team of Jessica McManus, Louis Pietsch, Oscar Pietsch, James McManus, Isabella Piessa and Tessa Ebert took the Half Marathon race in 1:12:43.

See the full Ekiden results here

See the full Walks results here

The 2022 Athletics SA Winter season comes to a close on Sunday, September 4 with the Fitzy's 5 Fun Run and State 5km Road Championships at North Adelaide's Uni Loop.

Also held over the weekend was the Australian Half Marathon Championships on the Sunshine Coast where Adrian Potter, Michael Roeger and Bryn Nicholls led SA to third position on the Teams ranking. 

2022 State 10km Road Champion, Potter finished fifith overall in the Men's event, clcking 1:04:46, while Roeger finished seventh (1:06:46) and Nicholls 11th (1:09:52).

SA finished third on 21 points, behind the Champions Victoria (nine points) and Queensland (18).