Race walking rarely demands the spotlight. So it was fitting, in a way, that on a quiet Thursday night at the Sydney Olympic Park Warm-Up Track — away from grandstands and television cameras — history was rewritten, as teenager Isaac Beacroft marched his way into the record books with a World U20 record.
Photos by Fred Etter
Beacroft, 18, is no stranger to success. He finished fourth at last year’s World U20 Championships on the track and won the junior event on the roads at the World Athletics Racewalking Team Championships in Türkiye.
At the NSW 10000m Racewalking Championships Beacroft lined up against a quality field including Australian record holder, Declan Tingay. By the end of the race, which he finished in 38:02.68 – pulling away from Tingay – he had not only broken the World U20 record, but claimed Tingay’s Australian Open record.
We caught up with the Beacroft to ask him about his success.
You were clearly talented in both running and race walking throughout your school years — how did you first get involved in the sport, and what did those early years look like?
I started to race walk in the under 9s just down at little athletics, I was naturally pretty good at it and definitely enjoyed it. Up until the age of about 16 I was still playing heaps of different sports but in particular AFL. I never really took my running or race walking training that seriously until that 16 years old mark, a typical year for me saw me doing athletics in the summer and AFL in the winter with a bit of cross country here and there as well.
At what point did you have to make a genuine choice between running [Isaac has has PBs of 4:02 1500m, 15:22 5000m and 31:55 10km] and race walking, and what ultimately tipped you towards walking?
The bigger the goals became with walking I was able to figure out the level of commitment really needed to excel, this saw the running almost completely give way. It was leading into my final year of high school (2024) where I had the goal of competing in the junior events at the world teams championships and world U20s. Although I would have loved to have kept running through this time I found it very hard to get the best out of myself walking if I was still trying to run well, same goes for the running if I was still trying to walk well. Having these opportunities to compete internationally really drew me in to focus on walking and give those competitions a good crack.
Race walking demands technical precision as much as endurance. What does a training week look like for you? You’re coached by you dad, David?
My Dad David Beacroft coaches me and typically a training week leading into this race has been in that 90-100k mark, small for a 10k athlete but effective for myself. My intervals have been long and at race pace with only 1 session with a rep smaller than 1k leading into this race.
- Monday: Gym and jog
- Tuesday: Track and or treadmill 8-12k of hard stuff race simulation
- Wednesday: Medium – Long with tempo efforts
- Thursday: Gym and jog
- Friday: Track or treadmill intervals 8-12k of hard stuff
- Saturday: Easy jog/walk with tempo efforts plus cricket
- Sunday: long walk 20-25k
Take us inside the race at Homebush. When did you realise you were capable of something truly special that night?
Starting off the race the plan was to go out a touch slower and close hard in a big negative split but that didn’t last very long, after the first lap I lifted the pace just that touch too much and kept going pretty hard through to the 5k mark where we split 19:00. At this stage I was still just telling myself “ok ok just need to hold onto 4s [minutes/kilometre] here for the rest and I’ll be fine”.
I was feeling pretty poor at this stage but I was also expecting the hurt and bracing for it too. We (Declan and myself) were holding onto pace still but it only really hit me that I wasn’t quite dropping off at the 3k to go mark. I was still holding my breath waiting and preparing myself to hit that wall but as it turns out I never really did.
Coming into the race I wasn’t even thinking about the AUS open record. I genuinely just didn’t think I was anywhere near it and to be honest I didn’t even know what it was. With 800 to go though I think I needed to go 3mins to break it and at this stage I was still just concentrating on not blowing up. I kept going through and 1 lap to go I needed a 90s split. That is probably when It first hit me that I was definitely going to go under the U20s WR, I hit the home straight and I think I heard my uncle screaming at me from the line telling me to go cause I had a crack at the open record so I went hard and eventually got under it.
When the clock stopped at 38:02.68, what went through your mind — pride, disbelief, or straight into ‘what’s next’?
I was pretty hyped, it was a lot of pride hitting me that I accomplished my goal of getting that record and then a whole lot of disbelief that I went so far under it.
You’re now well under the Commonwealth Games standard, but selection still lies ahead. How do you balance confidence with patience as trials approach?
Coming into this race most of the purpose was to bank that qualifier now and take a bit of pressure off come the trial given that the qualifier is one less thing to worry about. I feel at the moment I am seeing genuine improvements in myself every week so with another training block between now and the trial I feel I can really give myself every chance of securing a spot on that team.
When you look back on this performance in years to come, what do you hope it marks in the bigger picture of your career?
The biggest goal of my career is to firstly get to an Olympics and even better win an Olympics. I think I am just scraping the surface of what I’m capable of and in years to come I think I will look back on this race as the start of my time being competitive amongst Australia and even the world’s best walkers. I hope this race sets a standard for myself in the future.
What interests do you have outside of athletics?
I love sport, not just athletics but I watch everything and wish I could do it all. I still play cricket now on the weekends. I am studying business at university now just chipping away at my degree.
