Ben Thorne has had one hell of a season. Team Canada, which is comprised of Thorne and former Thunderbirds Inaki Gomez and Evan Dunfee, finished one point off third at the most recent World Team Championships. He finished first at NAIA Championships in the 5km race walk. Then he finished third at IAFF World Championships in Beijing in the 20km race walk.
Thorne, a third-year mechanical engineer and former Thunderbird track athlete, has been working for a long time to win a race walking medal. Switching from distance running to walking in high school, Thorne has run for UBC, off and on, due to eligibility issues, since he first came to Vancouver five years ago. Training six days a week, for 60 to 90 minutes each day, race walking at the international level is no easy feat.
UBC is the only Canadian university that has varsity-level race walking, because it competes in the NAIA. Western Canada has also built a race walking program with Thorne, Gomez and Dunfee under coach Gerry Dragomir. The team is on track to be one of the world’s most competitive with all three athletes medaling in international competition this summer (Gomez and Dunfee at the Pan Am Games) and trading off the Canadian record for the 20km.
“Race walking is a discipline where you walk as fast as you can, basically,” said Thorne. “There’s two rules: you have to have one foot in contact with the ground at all times, and you have to have one knee straight when you first contact the ground."
A series of judges surround the track and watch the walkers. If they break a rule, they get a red flag. If you collect three flags from the judges you are disqualified. Other than that, it’s just about how fast you can walk. And Thorne can walk fast -- really fast.
Thorne was hoping to finish in the top eight in Beijing, where the prize money starts. He, and his competitors, never expected him to finish third. Ranked as Canada’s third fastest this summer, behind teammates Gomez and Dunfee, Thorne finished 20th in the 20km race walk at the last world championships in 2013.
The World Championship race started slow and Thorne said he was feeling good for the first 10km.
“At about 12 or 14k, the pack blew up,” said Thorne. “And I was like, 'What the heck is going on?'"
Then Thorne says he saw several Chinese walkers take the lead, and he knew it was time to speed up. Thorne ended up in around seventh or eighth when the pack blew up, right on his goal pace. Then a racer doubled over, throwing up.
“Next thing you know, I’m in fourth,” said Thorne. “I chased the guy in third for about a lap. He got disqualified right in front of me; a guy shoved a red paddle in his face…. I actually almost hit him.
“For a 20k walk that last 90 minutes, it was pretty exciting."
After finding himself in third, Thorne held his position and finished for a bronze.
“I got a medal. I only really dreamed it would happen,” said Thorne.
With the win, Thorne is turning his sights to the 2016 Olympics, where he is now a medal contender, along with Gomez and Dunfee.