Allanah Pitcher: why 22 is the perfect time to retire

Australian Olympic Team member Allanah Pitcher is retiring from racewalking as a 22-year-old athlete who has the world at her feet in order to focus on her dream career as a 22-year-old biomedical engineer . . . with the world at her feet.

Pitcher, who’ll bade a ‘joyful’ farewell to arms at the upcoming Caixa World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Brazil on April 12, said she has no regrets about hanging up her well-worn shoes at an age when most athletes are starting to hit their straps.

“I’m feeling very good, really fit and the body is healthy,” said Pitcher, a New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder who was Australia’s reserve (race walk) athlete at the Paris Games. “But this is a decision I’ve been sitting on for a couple of years.

“I knew I wasn’t probably going to go to the LA cycle; I just wasn’t sure when, in the middle of that, I’d put it to a close. The main reason being is because there are so many other parts of my life that I’ve put on a hold for a number of years, and they’re more important to me now and I don’t want to keep delaying the call.

Pitcher – who won a silver medals at the 2022 U20 World Racewalking Teams Championships in Oman and at last year’s World University Games in Germany, who finished 21st in hellish conditions at the World Athletics Championships, Budapest, and who, at 19, broke the national 35km record, explained the time she needs to dedicate to the gruelling 10,000m, 20km and 35km endurance events risks preventing her from taking full advantage of some professional opportunities as she completes her degree at the University of Sydney.

“A big part of the reason is my engineering career. I’m getting opportunities for internships, and the field I want to get into – a ‘med tech’ – is competitive and also a niche one. Securing a job is very important to me, and I know I’ll need the freedom to accept an internship.”

As someone whose interest in racewalking was piqued as a nine-year-old on the Central Coast who saw a race walking squad training at the her local athletic centre, Pitcher believes the qualities that allowed for her to represent Australia will ensure she thrives in all other aspects of her life.

“Through sport you experience a microcosm of life, and you experience it quite rapidly” she said. “But the challenges you face, the way you set yourself up, the way you set goals, and the way you maintain allows you to learn – and I see myself taking many of those skills into my professional career.”

Pitcher’s career was not without its challenges, including two hip injuries which frustrated her development during her teenage years. Indeed, she once laughed about the prospect of her degree being able to help her in the years to come.

“I think sometimes: ‘oh wow, this will probably have consequences in the future’,” Pitcher said during an interview with NSWIS media last year when quizzed about the toll her sporting passion was most likely taking on her body. “But I do chuckle because biomechanical engineers are commonly hired to do designs of knee and hip replacements in patients, so I can design my own hip and knee replacement one day! [laughs]”

NSWIS’s State Performance Advisor, Michael Perry, said Pitcher’s wholehearted approach to her sport will allow her to look back on her career with a sense of pride.

“Allanah is an athlete who proved she could perform – and perform very well – when it counted. Her first world championships in Budapest (2023) reflected that. Her race – the 35km – was held in stifling heat, and while others couldn’t finish, she did,” said Perry of Pitcher placing a brave 21st after clocking 2:57.55. 

“And while we wait to see what awaits Allanah at the ‘worlds’ in Brasilia in a few weeks’ time, I have no doubt she’ll succeed in her life post-athletics. The dedication and determination she’s invested into her endurance sports proves she’s someone who turns up and competes day in. day out.”

Pitcher said when she retires at the completion of the upcoming championships, she’ll celebrate having retired on her own terms.

“I didn’t want to retire faking it,” Pitcher said. “I didn’t want it to get to a point where an injury cycle, burn out or something negative was what forced me out. I always wanted my last impression of walking to be something joyful, happy and healthy.

“[In making my decision] I thought: ‘I’m feeling really good, this world team champs is one of my favourite events on the sporting calendar because it’s all race walkers celebrating together. We understand each other’s endeavours, and I also enjoy the team component.

“So, I’m really happy with the decision. I’ve had this date in my head for a long time so it doesn’t feel shocking  . . . and I suppose it comes across as shocking to most people hearing the news because I am young and, yes, while this is a young time to retire, for me it feels like the perfect time – and it is exciting.”

Daniel Lane, NSWIS