Mark Donahoo began his involvement in the sport of Racewalking as a teenager, when he was introduced to the sport at the age of 16, when they needed someone in the racewalking event in the inter schools track and field event and the sports coordinator thought he could do it. This initial introduction has led to a love of the sport and a passion, enthusiasm and commitment towards encouraging and assisting others participate in the sport. Along side of this has been his own career in racewalking and well as his work as a Physical Education teacher.
Mark is involved within many facets of the sport. These include:
Mark has been a member of the Victorian Race Walking Club since the late 1970s when he first joined as a junior. He has been a strong competitor and an able administrator often mixing the two.
His administrative positions within the club includes many milestones and has led to the awarding of Life Membership in 2001 at the age of 41. When he was presented with the award the comment was made that “Mark continues to contribute to race walking at all levels with an enthusiasm that shows no signs of slowing. His life membership awarded this year was well deserved.”
Mark’s contributions to the Victorian Racewalking Club (VRWC) include:
At present Mark fulfils the following positions on the VRWC Committee:
All of these tasks are undertaken on a voluntary basis and require involvement by Mark on a weekly basis to ensure that records and information are kept up to date. This is particularly important for the Handicapping and Racing Calender tasks, which are both time consuming. Mark with assistance has developed a computer program to generate the handicaps for the Handicapped events. This involves keeping race results up to date for all athletes who compete with the Victoria Racewalking Club over the last few years.
Mark is also active on a number of other fronts on the administrative side of the Australian Racewalking scene. This includes:
Once again these tasks are all undertaken on a voluntary basis. These roles require Mark to keep abreast of events occurring on the racewalking scene in regard to the needs of the competitors of the sport. Mark’s enthusiasm for the sport comes to the fore on these committees where his opinion as a former Australian representative is sort as well as someone who is well versed in the needs of the current top Australian athletes and up and coming race walkers.
Mark began coaching athletes in 1993. During that time he has coached junior and senior men and women and also veteran athletes in the sport of racewalking. During this 23 year period he has coached over 40 athletes. Currently he is assisting 12 athletes with their racewalking aspirations. That is one of the key successes that Mark has had as a coach, is to encourage an athlete to perform their best at what ever level they are competing at. He has helped several athletes to achieve their dream to obtain international representation at Commonwealth, Olympic and Australian team level.
Mark is prepare also to help others who he does directly coach and his opinion is keenly sought at racewalking events and when he conducts Coaching sessions at the VRWC. He is also keen to share his ideas and other ideas from other coaches. He readily sees the need to seek others opinion and advice and is more than keen to share his. He has also assisted interstate athletes over the years and has helped a disabled woman to strengthen her legs so that she was able to walk with less assistance. Mark has assisted a soccer player to improve his overall fitness before heading overseas to play.
Mark has completed a Level 1, 2 and 3 (which is now Level 5) coaching coarse. He is one of the few Level 5 coaches for racewalking of the Australia Track and Field Coaches Association (ATFCA). He has assisted in several training days where he has conducted seminars on racewalking for Level 1 & 2 coaches. He has also written the racewalking section for the new ATFCA manual and the accompanying examination paper.
Mark has also conducted seminars for other clubs interested in walking and general fitness when requested.
Over the many years Mark has been an active competitor and has represented VRWC, Victoria and Australia in racewalking competitions on many occasions. Figure 1: Presentation ceremony after the World Cup races in Barcelona
He has represented Australia at 4 World Walking Cup events:
Within Australia Mark has won places in many titles over the years, too numerous to mention. His name appears on several records and on several trophies at both State and Federal level both as an individual competitor and team member. In the presentation of his Life membership award the comment made was that “his contribution to racewalking at all levels of the sport and his list of personal best times gives an indication of his prowess as a walker and cements his place as one our top competitors
Mark has now moved to Masters ranks, he has set Victorian and Australian records over the 10km distance. He regularly races in the World Masters events. He has medalled in all of the championship races at this level, and is currently the World Champion in the Men’s 45-49 age group over the 20km, which he won in San Sebastian in 2005.
Mark continues to strive to break records within the Masters events. His competitive spirit has never diminished over the years despite many of the setbacks that have occurred through his career including narrowly missing out on selection for Commonwealth and Olympic games selection.
Mark has received the following accolades and recognition of his efforts: