World Cup

Tom Barnes, Melbourne University Athletics Club member and University of Melbourne PhD student (Ludwig Institute), has returned to Australia from a successful trip to the Walk World  Cup in Chihuahua, Mexico.  Tom, in his first senior representative competition for Australia, finished 33^rdin 4:16:17, and was third Australian across the line in the grueling 50km walk in hot and windy conditions.  In combination with Beijing Gold Medallist Jarred Talent and Olympian Chris Erickson, Tom was part of the Australian team that took out fifth place in the prestigious event.  The punishing training that he endures paid off as Tom was the closest to his PB of all the Australians across all the races (20km and 50km, men and women).  After the race Tom said “The heat, altitude and wind in the last 10 km really made it hard yakka but that’s what I had been training for so it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it might be.”  A well deserved holiday in the US followed the trip to Mexico.