Race walking looks funny, but works by Ralph Chatoian Independent Journal reporter (1992) Jack Bray doesn't mind if someone laughs as he struts by in his race-walking gait. He just smiles back. Bray, a gerontologist at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco and a Greenbrae resident, teaches race walking classes at the College of Marin and also offers semi-private and private lessons for the beginner. The 59-year-old certainly has the qualifications for teaching his sport. He's ranked No. 1 in the world among race walkers in his age group (55-59). While some people giggle when race walkers strut by, arms pumping and hips wiggling, Bray, who used to be a runner, says it's the only way to go. "I was always an exceptional runner," said Bray, "but I used to wake up in the morning with lower back pains and sore knees. I could hardly get out of bed. I knew there must be an alternative." That was just four years ago. In the short time since, Bray has developed into an expert race walker. And part of it involves ancient Chinese healing arts. Bray is
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Race walking looks funny, but works
by Ralph ChatoianIndependent Journal reporter (1992)
Jack Bray doesn't mind if someone laughs as he struts by in his race-walkinggait. He just smiles back.
Bray, a gerontologist at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco and aGreenbrae resident, teaches race walking classes at the College of Marin andalso offers semi-private and private lessons for the beginner.
The 59-year-old certainly has the qualifications for teaching his sport. He'sranked No. 1 in the world among race walkers in his age group (55-59).
While some people giggle when race walkers strut by, arms pumping and hipswiggling, Bray, who used to be a runner, says it's the only way to go.
"I was always an exceptional runner," said Bray, "but I used to wake up in themorning with lower back pains and sore knees. I could hardly get out of bed. Iknew there must be an alternative."
That was just four years ago. In the short time since, Bray has developed into anexpert race walker. And part of it involves ancient Chinese healing arts. Bray is
a student and teacher of chi Kung, a Taoist healing art which, he says, "movesvital energy through the organs, systems and tissues of the entire body. It makesyou more energized with more vitality."
In his younger days, Bray was quite a basketball player and received ascholarship offer from John Wooden at UCLA but was drafted into the Navybefore he had a chance to become a Bruin.
Danced with Ginger
After his time in the armed service Bray received another scholarship offer, butthis time it was to the American School of Dance. He became a professionaldancer in the 1960s and appeared with Betty Grable, Ginger Rogers and LisaKirk and was in more than 20 Broadway shows, including "My Fair Lady" and"West Side Story," the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.
When he started his race walking career, Bray obtained some videos of some ofthe best race walkers in the world and studied them. Among those was MarcoEvoniuk of San Francisco who is in Barcelona as a member of the U.S. racewalking team. Both Evoniuk and Bray are coached by Frank Alongi of Dearborn,Mich., who comes west each year to head a race-walking workshop for Bray atCollege of Marin.
Bray teaches to all ages, his students ranging in age from 8-year-old JaredStoots of Tiburon to 92-year-old Daudee Douglas of San Francisco.
"I teach race walking to all people," said Bray, "You start when you are youngand carry it through your life. I have families taking the classes, and motherswho will teach their children."
Bray likes to call race walking "the dance of life," and teaches his students towalk with "a smile on their face," said Bray. "That's part of the Taoist practice.The inner smile. You smile from your eyes to your lips, down to your heart, to youliver, and to your kidneys. It move the energy through the body."
Rules to walk by
There are rules in race walking, and in competition a person can be disqualifiedfor not following them. The walker must have one foot on the ground at all times,and the 'passing leg' must be straight at the knee. It is the improvement of thistechnique that increases the speed. And it is this technique, which requires thehips to move to and fro, that give the walk its peculiar look.
"It is the challenge of maintaining a legal technique as well as the drive toimprove one's speed," said Bray. "It makes it a sport of the mind as well as thebody."
Many of Bray's students take the classes for the sport's aerobic benefits ratherthat to develop themselves for competition.
"Fitness writer John Poppy refers to race walking as the Rolls Royce of aerobics,burning more fuel, or calories, than running at a comparable speed for the samelength of time." Said Bray.
"It is a superb sport of the over 60 crowd, helping participants maintain a goodrange of motion in the shoulders and hips. A special benefit to senior women isthe gentle impact on hip and shoulders which signals the body to restore calciumto those joints and help prevent osteoporosis."
Bray said race walking is wonderful for the heart and lungs and it builds strengthand endurance without adding bulk. "Because you glide instead of bounce, thereis no stress to the knees, kidneys or lower back."
And, he said, it is good for women of all ages. "It is the only sport that we knowof that diminishes cellulite in the thighs and hips."
A great exercise
Bray, a board member of the Marin County Heart Association, points out that thesport also is good as a cardiovascular exercise.
"It is an excellent way to get the heart rate up," said Dr. Mark P Wexman, pastpresident of the Marin chapter of the American Heart Association and cardiologistat Marin General Hospital. "It is especially good for older people and offersexercise without the orthopedic trauma on joints and muscles and bones thatjogging causes."
Wexman, who is also an assistant professor of clinical medicine at University ofCalifornia San Francisco, said, "I appreciate what Jack has done. He is aninspiration and a model of practicing what he preaches."
The lean Bray who appears much younger than a man approaching his sixthdecade, stands 6-foot- 2 ½ and his normal weight is 162 pounds. Because ofextensive training in preparation for a national meet, his weight is down to 155.
The meet he's training for is the TAC National Masters Track and FieldChampionship in Spokane Wash. Aug. 13-16. He will be competing in the 5-kilometer (3.1 miles) and 20-kilometer (12.4 miles) events in a meet that isexpected to attract more than 1,000 athletes. And around the corneris the WorldVeteran Games in November 1993 in Miyazaki, Japan, where Bray will becompeting along with 8,000 seniors around the world.
Pace is rapid
The pace for expert race walker is very rapid, with some Europeans beingclocked in five-minute miles. Olympians can cover 50 kilometers (31 miles) in 3½ hours and the world record in the 20-kilometer (12.4 miles) race is 1 hour and18 minutes.
Bray said race walking dates back to the end of the 18th century in England.According to his research on the subject, thirsty English gentlemen who weregathered at a race or other outing would send their coachmen on foot to fetch ajug of ale from the nearest tavern, perhaps a mile or two away. They would thenlay bets on whose coachman would return first. Of course the men could not run,for fear of spilling the ale, and so they developed the curious strutting gait whichhas progressed to modern-day race walking.
Bray's early teacher in race walking was Bill Ranney, San Rafael High Schoolteacher and coach who died unexpectedly in 1986 after exercising on a rowingmachine"He was my mentor," Bray said about Ranney, who was headed for the1980 Olympics before the United States pulled out. "He told me I would be doing7 minute miles sometime down the road, and now I am. I miss him very much."He was 51.
“Fast Surpassing others as the aerobic exercise of choice”by Joan Price
from an article in thePacific Sun Health and Fitness
Week of May 21, 1993
You've seen them speeding along tracks and trails, in parks and shopping malls.Their feet skim the ground, their arms pump, sometimes their hips have thatfunny roll, and usually they're smiling. They are exercise walkers, and they'vefound a workout that's easy on the joints and adaptable to every fitness level.
Clearly, walking is good for health. It improves circulation, burns calories,decreases stress, revs up both physical and mental energy, and makes you feelgood. But can you really get an aerobic workout just by putting one foot in frontof the other and admiring the scenery?
You bet. Just pick up the pace. As Harry Truman said, "Walk as if you havesomeplace to go." Walk fast enough to drive your heart rate into target zone -about four miles per hour for most of us, five miles per hour for hard-coreathletes. Add some attention to body alignment and technique, and you'll findyourself working all the major muscle groups, including those that runningignores. You get the same cardiovascular benefits as with running, but with onlyone-third the impact. Not bad for a sport that's easy on the joints, light on thewallet, and requires no equipment except shoes.
Racewalking is walking in its most advanced form requiring technique andtraining. Racewalking has been an Olympic event for men since 1905; 1993 isthe first year for women. Racewalkers approach the speed of runners (and theylook like they approach the speed of light) with a five-minute 18-second mile forshort sprints and seven-minute mile average pace for 31 miles (50k). The racewalkers burn more calories than runners at the same pace though, becausewalkers must keep one foot on the ground at all times, using more steps andmore muscle action.
World-class racewalker Jack Bray is 60 years young. (He doesn't use the o-l-dword.) You'd guess his age at 40-something form his unlined face; vibranthealth; lean, muscled frame- and his seven-minute mile racewalking speed.Bray's body is relaxed, his smile serene as his feet seem to fly just above theground like a cartoon character making a getaway. He points out that his hipsdon't have the "dorky duck walk" we often see with Racewalkers.
Just voted "Most Inspirational Racewalker" byWalking magazine, Bray teachesracewalking at the College of Marin and privately, and directs the MarinRacewalkers which he founded. His racewalkers are aged eight to 83, andseveral have had heart surgery. Bray's mission: to spread the joy and health of
racewalking, which he calls "the dance of life," to competitive athletes andordinary health seekers alike.
Bray started racewalking after years of marathon running. After his lastmarathon, at age 55, he couldn't get out of bed. A month later, he was still inpain. Now pain free, he's not only a champion racewalker, but his running time isbetter than ever.
"If you pass a runner, say hello!" he instructs as they hit the trail.
"Walking takes people who are out of shape and puts them into shape," saysHerman Arrow, president of Mended Hearts, a heart surgery support group thatvisits patients in the hospital and later helps to reeducate them about healthylifestyle changes. Many Mended Hearts members now racewalk.
https://westsidetrackclub.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/finish-line-vol-29-no-3.pdfJack Bray doesn’t mind if someone laughs as he struts by in his race-walking gait. He justsmiles back.
Bray, a gerontologist at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco and a Greenbrae resident,teaches race walking classes at the College of Marin and also offers semi-private and privatelessons for the beginner.
The 59-year-old certainly has the qualifications for teaching his sport. He’s ranked No. 1 in theworld among race walkers in his age group (55-59).
While some people giggle when race walkers strut by, arms pumping and hips wiggling, Braywho used to be a runner, says it’s the only way to go.
“I was always an exceptional runner,” says Bray, “but I used to wake up in the morning withlower back pains and sore knees. I could hardly get out of bed. I knew there must be analternative.”
SFSU Magazine Online Fall/Winter 2003 Vol. 4 Number 1
Walking the WalkJack Bray (M.A., '89), a world champion racewalker, is on the phone from his homein Marin County, where he has just returned after setting a new American record forhis age group in the 5,000-meter road race at Kingsport, Tenn. At 71, Braycompetes among 70- to 74-year-olds. But if you were to see him, he insists, youwould not believe he is a septuagenarian. "I look like a chiseled body builder," hesays.
As if to dispel any doubts, Bray invited SFSU Magazine to meet him at the track atCollege of Marin, where he trains and teaches racewalking. Bray shows up wearing aturquoise warm-up suit over Spandex shorts and a tank top. If not quite CharlesAtlas, he is impressively tight and toned. At 6-foot-2 and 158 pounds, Bray has long,sinewy legs, a buff chest, and hardly an inch to pinch except for a slight waistlinebulge that he blames on a weakness for Ben & Jerry's.
Bray attributes his enviable physique and good health in large part to racewalking,the sport that has won him a drawer full of medals. A Broadway dancer andchoreographer before he came to San Francisco State to study gerontology, Bray isranked number one in his age group in the United States. In 1998, he set a worldrecord for the 3,000 meter indoor race in Boston, slicing 81 seconds off the oldrecord of 17:28.
Bray champions racewalking with evangelical zeal. He says it is the ideal sport forbaby boomers and beyond, providing all of the cardiovascular benefits of running butnone of the injuries. Bray was an avid marathoner until giving up distance running17 years ago because of the toll it took on his body. In 1992, Bray founded the MarinRace Walkers, which he says is the country's largest racewalking club.
Despite gaining in popularity, racewalking remains one of track's least appreciatedevents, eliciting snickers for the awkward way the hips rotate from front to back.Bray finds the butt-wiggle jokes tiresome. "If you're doing it properly, it's not funnyat all. It's smooth and beautiful," he says.
Bray proves his point by racewalking a few hundred yards, his wife of 14 years, Sue,watching from the sidelines. He is remarkably fast and fluid. Though racewalking'srules require that one foot be on the ground at all times, Bray's feet seem to hardlytouch the surface.
If anything, Bray is just getting warmed up. His sights are set on smashing anotherrecordat the world championships in San Sebastian, Spain, in 2005.-- Adrianne Bee
I was interviewed for the first issue of Walk! Magazine in 2005.
Senior Games: Jack Bray,72 Marin County, Calif.May 29, 2005 12:00 AM
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By Gary Rotstein Pittsburgh Post-GazetteNATIONAL SENIOR OLYMPIANS TEND
to be better educated than their peers among the older population, but they've had all
kinds of careers.
Martin E. Kilmek, Marin Independent JournalJack Bray, a world-record race walker and former dancer, works out at the College of Marin, Calif. track.Click photo for larger image.
Jack Bray, 72, looking to repeat as a race-walking gold medalist, put his feet on stage
instead of on track for 20 years as a dancer on Broadway and in touring companies. He
started as a boy in San Jose, Calif., by tap dancing with his older sister. Basketball
became a focus in high school, college and the Navy, but the 6-foot-3-inch Bray settled
into dance as a full-time calling in his 20s.
He worked alongside Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett and many other stars
for years in New York and Hollywood and points in-between. The life of a "gypsy," as
cast members like him are known, required that he constantly stay fit, with an
emphasis on bodybuilding.
"I was doing something that I had a passion for," Bray said. "You worked matinees and
did six shows a week. The money was very good, and it gave one a chance to study and
continue along with your dream. You're constantly taking dance and acting and voice
lessons."
Race-walking became a passion in the late 1980s, when the onetime high school track
star wanted nothing more to do with grueling marathon races. Four-time race-walking
Olympian Marco Evoniuk introduced him to the sport, in which participants use a fast-
paced, odd-looking gait by following rules always to keep a foot on the ground and a
straight knee.
Bray can walk a mile that way in under eight minutes. His winning times at the 2003
national Senior Olympics were 7 minutes, 48.28 seconds in the 1,500 meters and
28.36 in the 5,000 meters. He was far ahead of his closest age 70-74 competitor in
both events -- no surprise, since he has been winning for years in national competition.
A race-walking teacher at three colleges in the Bay Area, Bray describes the sport as
one in which the body's muscle groups must be in perfect harmony. He is also a
proponent of an Eastern exercise program called qi-gong, which combines special
movement, meditation and breathing techniques. Between that and daily walking, he
feels much younger than 72.
"There's no such thing as slowing down if you're a master of wisdom," Bray explained.
THREE WALKERS EARN NATIONALQUALIFYING MARKSMen's Cross Country | 5/21/2009 9:05:38 AMMiranda Melville, last year's USA Junior (U20) Race Walker of the Year, completed her firstever 20km Race Walk and earned the qualifying time for this year's championship that willbe held at the University of Oregon on June 27th. She will be joined by teammate Le'erinVoss, who also met the standard for the event. A third member of the UWP program, ErikaLamp, earned a mark in the Junior National Championship, held on the same day in Oregonwhen she met the standard in her first attempt at the 10 km distance.
Melville was the overall winner of the event, the UWP May Race Walks, that was held on thePetrifying Springs 2000m loop course on Sunday morning. The sophomore from Rush, NewYork walked a time was 1:47:01. Runner-up in the event went to UWP junior Le'erin Voss,the 3rd year athlete from Nashotah, Wis., walked a time of 1:49:10. Lamp is a freshmen fromWestosha Central High School, and covered the 10km distance in 58:43.
All three of the UWP women were able to complete their races with covering the second halfof the race faster than the first half. Melville earned a career best mark for 10km when shewalked the second half of the race in a time of 52:10. Last year, her best mark was 53:05, thatshe walked at the World Cup Junior Championships in Russia.
On the men's side of the event, UWP alums swept that Top 3 spots and earned qualifyingmarks for the USA Championships as well. Ben Shorey (1:28:47), Mike Tarantino (1:29:21),and Stephen Quirke (1:30:25) completed the sweep of the event.
Shorey and Quirke compete for the Parkside Athletic Club and Tarantino compete unattachedand is currently residing in San Diego, Cal. Quirke and Tarantino each walked career bestmarks by over 2 minutes.
In the Masters Division, UWP Coach Mike De Witt finished 2nd in the Over 50 division10km event with a time of 56:23. He placed 3rd overall in the Master's Age Grading with amark of 80.50% and the overall winner of the Age Grade was Jack Bray, 76 years old ofPardeville, wis., who scored at 85.47. Bray is a multiple World Record Holder in Master'sRace Walking.
UWP Coach Mike De Witt commented on the walkers performances on Sunday. "Theweather conditions were at optimum on the Petrifying Springs course. It was a great payofffor the hours of training that the women have put in for the past 6 months. It is a young
group, with Melville walking her first year at the senior distance and Voss in her second year.It was great to see them walk negative split races and look stronger as the event moved intothe later stages. It was nice to have the UWP men alums on the course as well. They did agood job of working together helping walk as well as they have ever done."
Pardeeville's Jack Bray recently won five racewalking gold medals while competing inthe World Masters Athletics Championships July 28-Aug. 8 in Lahti, Finland. Brayplaced first individually in the 5K, 10K and 20K racewalks and won a pair of goldmedals as part of Team USA in the 10K and 20K racewalks. Over 5,000 athletescompeted at the WMA Championships, which are held every other year.
SMALL TOWN NEWSAccomplishmentMike Wiggins Wins Gold Medal In Racewalk EventBy The Akron Hometowner staffThe Akron Hometowner of Akron, Iowa
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Michael Wiggins, president of Peoples Bank of Hawarden, recentlycompeted in the Master's Track and Field championships inHelsinki, Finland.
Wiggins came home with a gold medal. He teamed with RichCarlson of Colorado and Norm Frable of Utah and they won thegold in the 10K.
"This was my first time in the Masters. They have age categoriesfrom age 35 up every five years (age groups)," said Wiggins, whowas in the 60-65 age group.
Wiggins had a couple of unknowns to conquer, his first 20Kracewalk, jet lag, and recovering from an injury. He rehabbed atHawarden Community Hospital.
"Norm told me if I came, he wanted me on his team," Wiggins said.Wiggins' training, though, was limited by the injury. The highlightwas the gold in the 10K, followed by the silver in the 20K.
"It was great to hear our National Anthem in a foreign country.Most of the crowd was friends and family of the competitors andlocals," said Wiggins, who returned last week.
"It is the camaraderie," he added. "Someone approached me at the
end who could barely speak English, and said, 'nice job.' He wasfrom Iran."
Weather was nice for race-walking, from the low 50s to the 80s.
In race walking, technique and speed are both important, and onehas to be watchful of the judges.
Wiggins thanks Jack Bray of Wisconsin, who is racewalking at age75, for giving him some pointers.
Wiggins, who is nationally recognized as a leader in race-walking,hopes to return to competition at a race in Sacramento, CA. Untilthen, he will be training in and around Hawarden, at the WestSioux High track, and on trails.