Kansas City’s Heartland Racewalkers claim gold medals at USATF event in Chicago
Kansas City’s dedicated racewalking community is making news again.
Members of the local Heartland Racewalkers club made their annual trek to the USATF Masters Indoor Championships this past weekend.
They scored well as usual, winning a pile of medals and setting a national record during several days of competition in Chicago.
Karen Swisher, a current member who now lives in Hudson, Wisconsin, took the gold medal in the 1-mile walk in the women’s 70-74 division.
That was Thursday. Then she won another gold in Friday’s 3,000-meter walk, while setting an American record in a time of 18 minutes, 53.8 seconds.
Leawood’s David Eisenberg also won first-place gold — by 0.7 seconds — in the men’s 3,000-meter race for 70-74-year-olds ... with a former champion competing in the division.
And Alan Poisner of Overland Park, the oldest walker in the field, repeated as the 3,000-meter gold medalist in Friday’s 85-89 division. Poisner also won this event in 2023.
All three walkers are current or former presidents of the club and continue to put Kansas City area racewalking in the upper echelon of the sport.
