I have taken a runner who's best half marathon time was about 1:40 and over a 4 year period leading up to the age of 38 she got under 1:40 for walking 20km. She had a number of performances around the 1:38 mark, and one of around 1:35.
I have spotted promising walkers in half marathons and similar races, and encouraged them to take race walking seriously. I got a number of others to a reasonable standard, but it tended to end in tears when they weren't prepared to slow down to master the technique, and ended up with too many DQ's.
I now confine my encouragement to those who naturally walk with a good straight leg. I might only see one or two in a race with about 300 walkers. Our top senior woman walker was one I spotted in this way. She doesn't live near me, and I haven't coached her, but I don't doubt that with the right training she could also get down somewhere around 1:40.
A lot of course depends on the mental attitude, and the one who made the grade was a very determined little lady. (She also had 4 children and a bad back to contend with!)
We see plenty of young women walking but the males don't tend to take it up until they are rather older. While we can expect to get the occasional elite female race walker from the ranks of joggers and freestyle walkers, I believe it is much less likely with males. Very few males in their twenties or early thirties will consider freestyle walking, and it isn't until they begin to slow down that they tend to give it a try.
But it is the people we recruit from the ranks of freestyle walkers in half marathons and the like, that are keeping our sport going.

Jack Tregurtha

----- Original Message -----
From: Wayne T. Armbrust
To: RW list address
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: [racewalking] Interesting Walking Stats from the Cyber World

You really have women who took up jogging in their thirties with no
previous background in athletics or any other sport that broke 1:40 for
20k? We have over 75 times your population and no woman with that kind
of background has ever done that. The closest from this country would
probably be Victoria Herazo, '92 and '96 Olympian, who was a sub-elite
runner who took up race walking at the age of 28 and had a 20k PR of
1:35:39.

It is certainly my experience that very few "freestyle walkers" ever
show any interest in race walking.

Jack Tregurtha wrote:

> I thought I had replied to this message on the group at the time, but
> I mucked up, and it only went to James.
>
> Here goes again:
>
> In New Zealand, we have had freestyle walkers walking half marathons
> and marathons for many years. Only a very small proportion are at all
> interested in obeying (to them) any silly rules about complying with a
> prescribed form of walking.
>
> We do get a few who decide to take up race walling seriously, and this
> is now our biggest source of new race walkers. You'd have to be very
> foolish to turn your back on these people when you can get women
> capable of breaking 1 hour 40 minutes for 20km. This is from people
> who started out as joggers in their mid thirties, and who showed no
> promise as runners.
> We also get more genuine support from their ranks than we do from runners.
> Jack Tregurtha.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: James McGrath
> To: 'Wayne T. Armbrust' ; RW list address
> Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 6:09 AM
> Subject: RE: [racewalking] Interesting Walking Stats from the Cyber World
>
> Wayne,
>
> I hope you are joking! In case you are not, the reality is that the world
> of Walking consists of many, many thousands of Healthwalkers, many many
> hundreds of whom aspire to be sometime Racewalkers, who pay the bills for
> the lucky few "elites" who can compete Nationally.