Judging a Race Walk

May 18, 2010 by admin

Like every sport competition, Judging is very important for race walk too. The basic reason to have judges in race walk competition is to insure the fair competition between all contestants.  There are mainly two things, which a judge considers while judging the game. Firstly, straight leg movement and secondly, continuous contact with the ground. The front foot must come on the ground, before the toes of back foot lose the contact with the ground.

To judge this contact is very difficult, when feet are moving quickly, it is very tough for the judge to focus. Human eye cannot concentrate on such tiny thing, but when judge see that feet are floating, it is time to take action.

Judges cannot use any camera or video equipment to judge the race; they have to make all decisions with unaided eye. Yes, eye is not a perfect tool to judge this event, but this is the method considered as most effective for a fair game.

Bent knee race walking is the incorrect way, which can also lead to loss of contact with the ground. When a judge in race walking competition notice a player breaking one or both rules of the game, the judge call out the violation to the walker and also show a black and yellow sign to the competitor. This sign has two symbols on both sides, one for loss of contact and other for bent knee. Showing of these signs are called as cautions, these cautions alone cannot disqualify a contestant from race.

If walker is losing contact with ground or walking with bent knees, the judge will write a disqualification, i.e. a red card. If a walker gets three red cards from three different, the competitor will be disqualified. Only head judge will notify the walker that he or she has been disqualified.