Eastler making run at Olympics one step at time Worlds next for Maine racewalker

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Kevin Eastler views the 2003 IAAF World Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Paris not only as a step toward an Olympic dream, but motivation for a U.S. racewalking community that has shown little on the international stage.

“If I can finish in the top 15 or the top 10, that would be huge, probably a lot more than anyone would expect,” said Eastler, a 25-year-old Farmington native who will compete in the 20-kilometer racewalk on Aug. 23.

“It would be great for me, but it also would bode well for U.S. racewalking at the Olympics. Training with all the other top Americans, they can see that I don’t have all the natural talent, so if they see me do well, they’ll realize they can reach the same level I’m shooting for.”

The 6-foot-1, 170-pound Eastler, who trains under the auspices of the U.S. Air Force, qualified for the world championships at the U.S. Track & Field Championships at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., on June 20.

With Ellsworth’s Ben Shorey, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, setting the early pace, Eastler finished the 20K (12.4-mile) race in 1 hour, 23 minutes, 52.20 seconds. That was just off the U.S. 20K record on a track of 1:23:40 set in 2000 by Tim Seaman, the runner-up to Eastler at this year’s nationals.

“It was a huge PR,” said Eastler, whose previous best was 1:25:35.

Eastler’s time also eclipsed the Olympic “B” qualifying standard of 1:24:00, leaving him more than a year to attain the current Olympic “A” qualifying standard of 1:22:30.

“I’d like to shoot for the ‘A’ standard at the Worlds,” said Eastler, who leaves for Paris on Aug. 17. “That might be a lot, but it’s not out of reach if everything comes together.”

Family footsteps

Eastler got an early introduction to racewalking through the success of older sister Gretchen Eastler Fishman, a national-level competitor since the late 1980s, and his father, Dr. Thomas Eastler, a University of Maine at Farmington professor who has been involved in U.S. racewalking for decades as a coach, official, and advocate.

“They were both great influences,” Eastler said. “My dad is a great coach, and the success my sister had provided great motivation for me as a young racewalker.”

Eastler started racewalking at age 9. By the time he was 14, he was competing and winning as an independent in national meets, even though racewalking was not yet part of the Maine high school track and field scene.

After graduating from Mt. Blue High School in 1995, Eastler went to the Air Force Academy where he skied cross-country while taking a couple of years off from competitive racewalking.

But a chance meeting with former Maine high school running standout Sam Wilbur at a Colorado sporting goods store led to the rebirth of Eastler’s racewalking career in 1998.

“Sam had just finished training with the World Class Athlete Program,” Eastler said. “He suggested I racewalk through WCAP, so I eventually did that.”

The World Class Athletic Program is designed to allow elite Army and Air Force athletes to train full time for two to three years before Olympic competitions and to generate positive publicity for the military.

Eastler trained through the WCAP as he worked toward graduation from the Air Force Academy in 1999. He now lives in Fort Collins, Colo., where he juggles dual careers as a world-class racewalker and as a first lieutenant in the Air Force.

And the two careers aren’t necessarily complementary -it’s hard to get serious racewalk training done when your other job is six stories below the Earth’s surface.

Eastler is an Air Force missileer.

“A missileer is a commissioned officer in charge of intercontinental ballistic missiles that are nuclear-armed,” Eastler said. “My job is to oversee and coordinate security, maintenance, and operation of the missiles.

“Training is kind of difficult, because my work shift ranges between 30 and 36 hours, with the actual alert when we’re down in the compound about 24 hours. I have to work around that.”

Olympic ambition

Eastler’s ultimate goal is the ultimate competition: The Olympic Games.

“It’s definitely in the back of my mind,” he said. “Once you get to a certain level, that’s what you shoot for.”

The 2004 Summer Games loom just a year away, and qualifying to compete in Athens is not an impossible goal for Eastler, given the dramatic reduction of his personal best at the U.S. championships.

But if not 2004, there’s always 2008 or 2012.

“I’m still pretty young for a racewalker,” said Eastler, who will try to qualify for the 2004 Games at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento next July. “Like marathoners, a lot of racewalkers peak in their late-20s or 30s.

“The 20K is considered the sprint of racewalking, so you’ll see some younger people in that event. But I feel like my best years definitely are ahead of me.”