rules to play power walking

Medals and certificates will be awarded to the first three men and women winners as well as to the winners of the Hellenic National Marathon Championships. A commemorative cup will only be awarded to the first man and woman. The first three winners are kindly requested to proceed to the award ceremony area as soon as possible after the race.

The split times of the runners are announced in our website throughout the race. After the end of the race, the official results for the first 20 runners are immediately announced. The unofficial results for the rest of the participants will be announced a few hours after the end of the race. Runners will have the opportunity to submit an appeal within the next five (5) calendar days. The official results for all categories will be announced on our website about ten (10) working days after the race. All runners may get their participation certificate through the official website of the event a few days later.

There are judges on the course to monitor form. Three judges submitting red cards for violations results in disqualification. There is a scoreboard placed on the course so competitors can see their violation status. If the third violation is received, the chief judge removes the competitor from the course by showing a red paddle. For monitoring reasons, races are held on a looped course or on a track so judges get to see competitors several times during a race. A judge could also caution a competitor that he or she is in danger of losing form by showing a paddle that indicates either losing contact or bent knees. No judge may submit more than one card for each walker and the chief judge may not submit any cards; it is his or her job only to disqualify the offending walker. Disqualifications are routine at the elite level, such as the famous case of Jane Saville disqualified within sight of a gold medal in front of her home crowd in the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Racewalking developed as one of the original track and field events of the first meeting of the English Amateur Athletics Association in 1880. The first racewalking codes came from an attempt to regularize rules for popular 19th century long distance competitive walking events, called Pedestrianism. Pedestrianism had developed, like footraces and horse racing, as a popular working class British and American pastime, and a venue for wagering. Walkers organised the first English amateur walking championship in 1866, which was won by John Chambers, and judged by the fair heel and toe rule. This rather vague code was the basis for the rules codified at the first Championships Meeting in 1880 of the Amateur Athletics Association in England, the birth of modern Athletics. With football (soccer), cricket, and other sports codified in the 19th century, the transition from professional Pedestrianism to amateur racewalking was, while relatively late, part of a process of regularisation occurring in most modern sports at this time.