He takes a deep breath as he approaches the starting line and looks out at the long stretch of track in front of him. It’s early in the morning, but he’s ready to go.

The starting pistol fires, and he begins a steady, speedy walk. 

Clayton Stoil, a junior political science major from Washington, D.C., competes in professional race walking meets, a type of foot race in which the competitor must have one foot on the ground and one knee straight at all times.

“For the mile, (I walk) like 6 minutes 30 seconds,” Stoil said. “I’m still training for the 20k, so I should be around 1 hour 40 minutes right now.”

His 6.30 mile is the same amount of time the top 1% of males 17-21 years old can run a mile on average, according to Medical News Today. 

However, Stoil typically walks longer distances. 

“I’m still training for the 20k, so I should be around 1 hour 40 minutes right now,” he said. 

One of Stoil’s favorite parts of the sport is the people he’s met through it. 

“I’ve grown to like the people I compete against. We all know each other,” Stoil said. “There’s a lot of competition, but you’re more friendly for competition. You’re excited that they do well,” he said. 

Stoil said the sport requires more full-body workouts than running. 

“You need to have a lot of core strength, because you want to keep your upper body stable, you don’t want it to move around. You want to be very firm and in place. You need more upper body strength than a runner needs because you need to like actually use your arms to pull you forward,” he said. 

Among one of his favorite accomplishments, Stoil served as team captain for Team USA in the Pan American Games in Puerto Rico back in August. 

Damon Frabotta, a hurdler at Boston College, met Stoil at the Pan American Games. 

“The team all liked him so much, we voted him team captain,” Frabotta said. “He was also by far the most outgoing and friendly person to all of the other competitors from other countries. Whether it was meeting them, eating meals with them or just getting to know them, he prided himself on going out of his way to get to know everyone on the trip.”

He said Stoil gives his all every time he steps on the track. 

“The race walk is not the most glorious event, often having to compete very early in the morning, but he takes it head on and is always attempting to push his own limits,” Frabotta said. 

Stoil will compete later this month for another spot on Team USA. 

He hasn’t always been a race walker. Stoil first decided to try out the sport when a race was going on at the same time as one of his cross country meets. 

“I would say I only really got good in the past few years when I stopped running more so and I started focusing on this. This year, I’ve gotten a lot better than I was,” Stoil said. 

When Stoil is not walking or running, he is either golfing, waterskiing, training in A-State’s ROTC program or working on his political science degree. 

Cameron Wimpy, Ph.D., department chair of political science, said he has gotten to know Stoil through being one of his professors. 

Wimpy said Stoil is dedicated to balancing his academics with his athletic efforts. 

“He demonstrates that competing at the highest levels of athletics is possible while still fully participating in class and excelling academically,” Wimpy said. 

Stoil has a long career in front of him. He said while the prime age for runners is in their 20s to 30s, the best race walkers are in their 30s to 40s. 

“I’m good at it,” Stoil said. “So, that’s why I keep doing it.”

Categories: Sports