Mannozzi, Burnett Capture USATF 30K Racewalk Titles

Mike Mannozzi and Katie Burnett strode to decisive victories at the USA Track & Field 30-Kilometer Racewalk Championships held Sunday, Sept. 15 at Rockland Lake State Park in Congers, N.Y.

The race was coordinated by Dave McGovern, a former Congers resident and 1983 Clarkstown North graduate who is a nationally recognized racewalking coach and former elite competitor.

Mannozzi, 27, of Youngstown, Ohio, passed Shore AC teammate and early leader Jonathan Hallman after six miles of the 18.6-mile race and continued on to an emphatic win in 2 hours 31 minutes 37 seconds, a personal best by two minutes. Dave Talcott, also from Shore AC, wound up second in 2:38:29.

“I tried to use good pace judgment because I didn’t want to crash in the first 10K,” said Mannozzi, who used the race as a steppingstone for the 50K national championship race to be held Nov. 24 in Coconut Creek, Fla. “I paced myself effectively.” The national title was the second for Mannozzi, after having won the 2012 Millrose Games mile walk, which doubled as the U.S. championship at that distance.

Burnett, 24, an Issaquah, Wash., native who now lives in Rochester, N.Y, secured her first U.S. championship with a clocking of 2:37:38, a personal best by four minutes. She was runner-up last year to 2012 Olympian Maria Michta, who did not compete this year. Burnett has made two U.S. teams in international competition, for the 20K World Cup and Pan Am Cup.

Several non-championship races, some with international entrants, were held concurrently with the 30K. In the 20K (12.4 miles), Mauricio Arteaga of Colombia finished first in 1:23:45, followed by Ecuadorean teammates Jordy Arrobo (1:29:57) and Jaime Saquipay Pani (1:32:00). The top female finisher was Magaly Bonilla Solis of Ecuador in 1:39:56. Brittany Collins, the U.S. Junior champ, was the first American female finisher in 2:00:42.7.

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