Our two most recent roster additions to the Raleigh Walkers are Ivonne Chirino-Klevans and Dean Freitag. Both come with impressive resumes as endurance athletes and should prove to be excellent representatives at the National and International level for the team.
Ivonne comes to us originally as a gymnast, who has shown excellent range as a distance runner over the last decade. Looking to continue to compete at a high level and avoid the injuries that come from the higher impact sports of her younger years, she has taken up Race Walking. While running, she had the following times: 22:00 5km, 47:00 10km, 1:42 half marathon & 3:48 marathon. In her first two walks, she completed 1500m in 9:33 and 5000m in 34:16. Both excellent times for the 55-59 age group.
Dean arrives after completing his collegiate racing career at the University of Rio Grande, where he was a 2x National Champion and 5x All-American in the Race Walk for the NAIA school. Turning pro will mean new challenges as he looks to make a mark on the US, then International, scene at 20 km. Coming in with PRs of 12:33.03 (3000m) and 21:47.62 (5000m), he fits in well with a strong men’s squad that is preparing to earn podium spots at all the major US Championships in the build up to the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games.