Owego to host ‘Not Just a Walk in the Park’ Centurion race

On Sept. 24, Centurion walkers from across the United States and around the world will converge on Marvin Park in the Village of Owego for an athletic event that is so unique and so challenging that only 80 people have ever completed it on U.S. soil.

Walkers competing in the Not Just a Walk in the Park Centurion race must complete 100 miles in less than 24 hours to earn the distinction of Centurion, a notable achievement in the Track and Field community. Not Just a Walk in the Park is also the 100-kilometer (62.14 miles) United State Track and Field (USATF) Eastern Regional and the Niagara Association Race Walk Championship.

The two races will be held simultaneously but will be judged by different rules, with the 100-kilometer under USATF rules and the 100-mile under International Centurion rules.

“Extreme endurance events are becoming much more popular in the U.S., but becoming a Centurion has been a challenge since the early 1900s. The difficulty in completing 100 miles walking lies not so much in the pace but in the toll it takes on you, both mentally and physically,” said Erin Taylor-Talcott, race walker and event organizer.

Taylor-Talcott and her husband, Dave Talcott, are both professional race walkers that compete all over the globe and are well known in the race walking community. They are both national record holders and USATF Master Race Walkers of the Year for USATF. In addition, they train other race walkers from all over the world at their home in Owego, N.Y.

Although their life as a married couple revolves around their sport, they also operate a small farm where they raise cows and chickens, harvest apples and grow vegetables and lead a quiet, homestead lifestyle in the country. In their hometown of Owego, they are known as the “race walking couple” and can be spotted training along the roads of Tioga County and in parks on their frequent workouts which usually go over 15 miles a day.

The couple decided to hold Not Just a Walk in the Park to merge their sport and their hometown in a unique event that would bring their race walking peers to the community they love.

They stated, “We live in such a wonderful community and we knew everyone would be excited about the event and the international visitors it would bring to our lovely town. We knew with the support of the community we could put on a top-quality event that would enable the competitors to achieve their US Centurion badge.”

They have included a “Community Challenge” in Not Just a Walk in the Park to encourage residents to be a part of this historic event, learn more about race walking and challenge themselves.

“When we started telling people about the 100 mile event they were so excited and wanted to be a part of it but thought they wouldn’t be able to complete the full 100 miles. We thought the Community Challenge would be a great way to let the community give it a try and see what they’re capable of,” said Taylor-Talcott.

Race walking is an athletic event contested in all levels of Track and Field, including the Olympics. Currently, there are no women’s 50 kilometer (31.1 miles) teams at the Olympics, although there are for the men. Taylor-Talcott recently garnered international attention when she became the first woman to

compete in the IAAF 50-kilometer race on May 9, 2016 in Rome, Italy after winning her petition to the IAAF to allow women to enter the men’s race.

Following the IAAF decision, she was named to the USATF team and was the first woman to be allowed to race on equal footing with the 67 men. She went on to place 40th.

Taylor-Talcott’s fight for the right to compete in top-level events and for equal prize money for women’s events has spanned several years and has broken barriers in the sport. She was the first woman to compete at the Men’s 50K Olympic Trials in 2012 where she placed 6th. In 2014 she successfully petitioned USATF to award equal prize money for women’s events and to advocate for women’s 50K race walking teams to be incorporated at international events.

“The lack of a women’s 50K event is the last inequality left in the Olympics in Track and Field. Slowly that is starting to change and many believe there could be a women’s 50K event in Tokyo at the 2020 Olympics,” she said.

Not Just a Walk in the Park will begin at noon on Sept. 24. Members of the public can register for the Community Challenge at the northern pavilion between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m., and they will begin with the Centurion competitors. Individuals can challenge themselves to walk as long as they wish.

The cost is $20 per person and all participants will receive a finisher’s medal to celebrate their personal achievement and commemorate their participation in the event. Proceeds of the event benefit the local Boy and Girl Scout Troops.

The roadway in Marvin Park will be closed to traffic so competitors and spectators are asked to park in the Price Chopper Plaza parking lot. Restrooms at the pool will be open for use. Please remember this is a walking only event, running will not be permitted on the course. The race is 24 hours long, with the first finisher expected to finish around 8 a.m. Sunday morning.

For more information on Not Just a Walk in the Park, contact the Talcotts at (347) 623-6263 or (607) 768-7400, or you can email to oboebassoon@yahoo.com. You can also visit the race’s Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/notjustawalkinthepark.