Record setting race walk by Aisling Lane

Ballymore's Aisling Lane recorded a personal best time when finishing seventh in the Lusatian Race Walk, a World Athletics Tour Silver event.

The event is a joint venture between Germany and Czechia (Czech Republic), supported by European Union funding, with Germany hosting the event recently (October 24).

With most of the athletes and officials accommodated just over the border in Czechia, the Germans provided excellent facilities and a picturesque competition site in Zittau. After a few days of rain, the clouds parted to give a cool but refreshing morning for the race, ideal for high level endurance competition.

There were simultaneous starts to the marathon and half marathon race walks on a relatively narrow course. Aisling Lane had to work hard to keep control of her pace and position over the early laps of the half marathon race walk, but she managed it with poise and focus. With a pre-race plan to average 5:05 per kilometre, Aisling settled in to this rhythm by the 3k mark.

Following a period of sustained endurance training for the last two months, Aisling kept the pace lap by lap all the way to 17k. At that point, the inevitable fatigue set in, but she fought hard to maintain a good rhythm over the last few laps and used the bell for the last lap to dig deep and drive hard for the finish line.

The Mullingar Harriers athlete pulled back any seconds lost over the previous few laps to cross the line in seventh place in 1:47:25, a personal best by over five and a half minutes.

With a top ten finish in a race won by Peru’s Mary Luz Andia, the Pan American and South American champion, followed by national champions from Czechia, France, Canada and Germany, Aisling has laid down a marker for the 2027 season.

As international distances in race walking moved from 20k to half marathon (21.1k) two years ago, this performance is the fastest ever by an Irish woman for the half marathon and, subject to ratification, is a new Irish record and is most definitely a club record.

Competing in the men’s equivalent half marathon race walk, Oisín Lane did not have anywhere near the same fortune as his sister. As things were not going well for him, he withdrew soon after the halfway mark.

It was just as well as, suffering from a bad allergic reaction, he needed to get medical attention immediately on arriving back to Dublin Airport. Oisín is recovering well and is already planning his next important race.

Oisín Lane was a Outstanding Achievement award finalist in the Westmeath Independent Community & Sports Awards - see here for separate article.