02 October 2012

Leeds Metropolitan University is set to host the second European Race Walking Conference on 2-3 November on behalf of UKA and England Athletics. The conference, supported by European Athletics and the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund, will welcome a number of Europe’s top race walking coaches.

The speakers will spend time discussing performance and development, while also speaking about the value to the wider endurance community.

With a number of key speakers already confirmed and more speakers to be announced, this conference is sure to be of value to those involved in race walking. To book your place at the conference, please visit this link to Leeds Met:

Some of the key speakers confirmed for the three-day conference are:

Paulo Murta (Portugal) – Murta is a Technical Coach for the Athletics Association of the Algarve. He has coached Ana Cabecinha, who has twice finished in the top-10 at the Olympic Games and holds the Portuguese record for the women’s 20 km walk, since she was 11 years old. Paulo’s presentation will focus on the development of Ana Cabecinha from the age of 11 up to the London 2012 Olympics.

Marko Kivimaki (Finland) – Kivimaki is currently the Finnish Athletics Race Walk Coach and was a team coach at the 2012 Olympic Games. He will present on “Lessons learned from the Finnish Race Walking School”, centring on development activities in Finland.

Malcolm Brown (UK) – Brown is the coach of brothers Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, who won gold and bronze medals respectively in the triathlon at the London 2012 Olympics. He is the former Director of Sport at Leeds Metropolitan University and was British Triathlon’s Olympic Performance Manager for London 2012. Malcolm will present on managing the performance environment of an Olympic Champion in Triathlon.

Patrick Duffy (Ireland/UK) – Duffy is Professor of Sport Coaching at Leeds Metropolitan University and the current Vice President for Europe of the International Council for Coach Education (ICCE). Professor Duffy is a former Chief Executive of Sports Coach UK, where he led the development of the UK Coaching Framework. He will deliver the opening conference address.

Olive Loughnane (Ireland) – Loughnane has competed in four Olympic Games (2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012) and has represented Ireland at five consecutive editions of the World Championships in Athletics. She won a silver medal at the 2009 World Championships in the Women’s 20 km Walk. Olive will reflect on the role of coaching in her development.

Martin Rush and Dave Rowland (UK) – Rush is the England Athletics National Coach Mentor for Endurance and Walks and Dave Rowland is the National Coach Mentor for Physical Preparation. Martin’s experience includes competing at the 1992 Olympic Games whilst Dave is the former Head of Strength & Conditioning at Bristol Rugby. They will present a practical workshop on conditioning for race walk athletes.

Alison Rose, Oli Williamson and Andy Walling (UK) –Rose and  Williamson, both of Coach House Sports Physiotherapy Clinic, and Walling of Athlete Matters Sports Physiotherapists will deliver a practical workshop based their experiences of working with race walk athletes. They will look at screening and conditioning as a basis for performance enhancement and injury prevention.

Rose is the physiotherapist credited with helping to keep Kelly Holmes injury free in the two years leading up to the Athens Olympics in 2004 and has recently worked with Jessica Ennis, 2012 Olympic Heptathlon Champion. 

Williamson has supplied event physiotherapy on behalf of England Athletics during an IAAF race walking meet in Lugano, Switzerland, as well as at the England under 17 Championships.

Walling has worked for UKA at events including World and European Race Walking Cup events, combined events internationals, the European U23 Championships and the UKA altitude camp in Kenya.

Brian Hanley (Ireland/UK) – Hanley is undertaking research for a PhD in the biomechanics of elite race walking technique which has involved working with elite squads from Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Finland and Australia. Brian will present a practical workshop in the Biomechanics Laboratory.