Our Guest Coaches
We are fortunate to have talented elite athletes join us in many of our clinics.
Ian Whatley
Ian graduated from Loughborough University in the UK after carrying out original research on running shoe design. He moved to the US to set up the Nike Sport Research Lab in 1980. He has since made a career of inventing shoe components. Ian has raced in four US Olympic trials and competed for the US on four international teams, earning a team silver medal at the Pan Am Cup in Manaus Brazil in 1996. He co-wrote the USATF coaching manual for track and field and is a frequent racewalking clinician around the country. Ian lives in Reno, NV, and is a frequent guest coach at the USA Racewalking Training Center in Greenville, SC.
Philip Dunn
Oregon native Philip Dunn began racewalking at age ten. He is a three-time Olympian, earning berths on the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympic teams, and many-time competitor in the Track and Field World Championships, World Cup, Pan Am Games and Pan Am Cup. Philip was the top U.S. finisher at the 2002 World Cup in a PR of 3:56:13. Dunn graduated cum laude and received his BA degree in English from Carleton College in 1993. In addition to his racewalking prowess, Philip is also a race director and a USATF Level I coach.
USATF Bio
Rebecca Garson
Rebecca went from 200 lb. couch potato to marathon walker in 2005. She has since won seven USATF masters national championships at several distances. With a 20k personal best of 2:04:05, Rebecca is one of the fastest grandmothers in the US! She is looking ahead to competing in the 2012 Olympic 20k Trials. Rebecca is a seven-time USATF Masters National Racewalk champion and a Prevention Magazine Team Prevention mentor.
Prevention Magazine Article
Loretta Schuellein-McGovern
Less than one week after qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Trials in the 20k racewalk, Loretta won the USATF National 1-Mile Racewalk Championship at the Millrose Games in New York City. Her time of 6:52.12 was a personal best. Loretta has been a middle school, high school, and college track and racewalking coach, and is currently the Long Island Walk Coach for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation's "Team Challenge" half-marathon team. After placing 10th at the 2008 Olympic Track & Field Trials, Loretta took a break to start a family, giving birth to son Cavan in May 2009.
Augie Hirt
US Department of Homeland Security Steve Pecinovsky has been a fixture on the US national racewalking scene ever since breaking the high school one-mile walk record in 1973. A four-time World Cup team member, Steve was also a member of several Pan Am Cup and World Military Games teams. As a coach, Steve was the first in U.S. history to oversee team gold medals in the 20 kilometer and 50 kilometer racewalks at the Pan Am Cup.
McPherson College Hall of Fame bio
Steve Pecinovsky
US Department of Homeland Security Steve Pecinovsky has been a fixture on the US national racewalking scene ever since breaking the high school one-mile walk record in 1973. A four-time World Cup team member, Steve was also a member of several Pan Am Cup and World Military Games teams. As a coach, Steve was the first in U.S. history to oversee team gold medals in the 20 kilometer and 50 kilometer racewalks at the Pan Am Cup.
Dan Seriani
Dan, only 20 years old, was the 2010 USATF National Champion in the 5 kilometer and 20 kilomter racewalks. He is a member of the 2011 Pan Am Cup team, which will be competing in Medellin Colombia in March, and he was a member of the 2010 World Cup team.
Liz Salvato
Lizzy is the American Record Holder in 50- and 100-mile racewalks. A competitor in the 1992 Olympic Trials, Lizzy is an ACE-certified personal trainer with a BA in Physical Education and an MA in Applied Exercise Physiology from San Diego State University. As a walking coach with Team In Training for six years, she has shared proper walking form and marathon training with thousands of walkers.
Tim Seaman
Tim Seaman is America's most dominate active racewalker. A two-time Olympian and a 36-time National Champion, Tim is also a twelve-time U.S. record holder. Tim has dedicated himself to helping the next generation of racewalkers, working with the South Texas Walking Club and other elite youth and junior racewalkers to produce numerous budding superstars.
Susan Randall
Susan was born in China and emigrated to the US in 2001. In 2005 she took her son to a track meet and saw racewalking for the first time. She gave it a try and took to it right away. Hoping to compete in the Olympics in her homeland, Susan qualified for the 2008 Olympic trials by placing 5th in the 2007 National 20K Championship. She placed 11th at the 2008 Trials.
Susan Armenta
The American Record Holder in the Women's 50k Racewalk, Susan has been a top competitor in US racewalking circles since placing 10th in the 1992 Olympic Trials, but especially since 2000 when the Olympic distance was moved up to 20k. She walked 1:34:44 for 20k that year. Sensing she had a knack for long distance walking, Susan won the innaugural women's USATF 50k Racewalk Championship in 2001 and broke her own record the next year with her still-standing 4:39:39.
USA bio
Carolyn Kealty
Carolyn qualified for the 2004 Olympic Track and Field Trials just over a year after learning to racewalk. The 45-year-old mother of two also qualified for and placed 9th in the 2008 Trials. A resident of Coral Springs, FL, "Killer" hosts Dave's Coral Springs clinics, and is an indispensible assistant at his Annual Camp in Clermont, FL.
Sun Sentinel Article
Aigars Fadejevs
Latvian Olympian Aigars Fadejevs placed 6th in the 20k walk at the 1996 Olympics, and took the silver medal in the 50k at the 2000 Olympics. In 2004 he placed 11th in the 50k and 9th in the 20k. Aigars also won the silver medal in 1998 European Championships in the 20k. His personal bests are 1:19:36 in the 20k and 3:43:18 in the 50k. Aigars is now a coach and motivational speaker.
Joanne Dow
Dow continues to be one of the top female race walkers in the U.S. She won the USA Indoor and Outdoor titles in 2006, repeating a feat she accomplished in 2002. Her 20 km time at Outdoors established a new U.S. record on the track (1:34:46.52). She ran track as a sprinter in her first two years of high school, but her primary sport was swimming. She swam freestyle for three years at New Hampshire, competing in the NCAA Division II nationals in the relay.
USATF bio
Herm Nelson
1996 and 2000 50k Olympian.
