Trevor Barron is the fastest junior race walker in U.S. history, holding national records at distances from one mile to 20 kilometers.
Born September 30, 1992, in Pittsburgh, Pa., Barron began race walking at age 9, hoping to find a way to join his sister Tricia, then a skilled hurdler and jumper, at the USATF national Junior Olympics. He placed second nationally in his age group in 2002 and then won gold medals the next four years, breaking the national youth boys (age 13-14) record in 2006.
Two weeks after that record-breaking race, Barron entered Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for brain surgery to curb epileptic seizures that had plagued him since age 8 and had interrupted his promising career as a competitive swimmer. Children’s Hospital neurologist Deborah Holder was able to identify the dysfunctional portion of his brain that was causing the problems, and Barron has been seizure-free since recovering from the surgery.
At age 15 Barron won the U.S. junior men’s trial for the 2008 World Race Walking Cup in Cheboksary, Russia. As the youngest entrant there, he placed 42nd among 63 competitors. However, upon returning home he discontinued race walking, citing the unfavorable attention often accorded to this discipline in the U.S.
In November 2008 Barron resumed race walk training, becoming a homeschooled student so that he could train with coach and two-time Olympian Tim Seaman in San Diego, Calif. His renewed dedication quickly bore fruit as he broke U.S. junior records at distances of 5 and 20 kilometers. In July 2009 Barron finished fourth in the 10km race walk at the World Youth Championships in Bressanone, Italy, in a U.S. record time of 42:22.79. This was the best finish ever by a U.S. junior at a world race walking event.
In 2010 Barron continued his record-setting pace, breaking the U.S. high-school mark for the one-mile walk with a time of 6:03.48 at the Millrose Games and lowering his own records at 5, 10, and 20 kilometers. Barron finished ninth at the World Race Walking Cup in Chihuahua, Mexico and seventh at the World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada. In September 2010, he entered his first international 20km race at the Nordic Championships in Tuusula, Finland. There Barron beat Scandinavia’s top walkers with a time of 1:23:49.39, 18 minutes under the previous U.S. junior 20,000-meter track record. For these achievements he was named USA Track and Field’s Youth Athlete of the Year and received the Ron Zinn Award as the nation’s top male walker.
In 2011, after recovering from a knee injury that prevented him from completing the junior men’s 10k race at the Pan American Race Walking Cup, Barron returned to form with a U.S. junior record time of 1:03:37 at the U.S. Open 15k race in Riverside, Calif. He then won the 20k men’s race at the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, establishing four junior records along the way (21:06 for 5k, 41:35 for 10k, 1:02:16 for 15k, 1:23:25.10 for 20k). His time achieved the IAAF and Olympic “B” standards and qualified him to compete at the 2011 World Track and Field Championships in Daegu, Korea.
Barron intends to begin college in fall 2011 while training for the 2012 Olympic Trials and (if successful there) the London Olympics.
For more information on Trevor:
http://www.usatf.org/Athletes/Bios/barron_trevor.asp