Three-time Olympian Curt Clausen won the men's race, and American masters record holder Heidi Hauch captured the women's title under sunny skies and warm temperatures Sunday at the 2005 USATF 30 km Race Walk National Championships in Chula Vista, California.

Clausen took a short break from his first year in law school at the University of Wisconsin to pound out a hotly contested win over Philip Dunn in the men's race.

Clausen, and 2004 Olympic 50 km teammate Dunn, spent the first 22 kilometers of the race chatting about old times and their upcoming USA 50 km Championships in Florida. With just four laps of the 2 km loop remaining, the race got serious. Dunn steadily applied the pressure, dropping the pace from just over 5:00/km to 4:48, then 4:40, then 4:38. With two km to go, Clausen, who had been hanging on to the back of hard-pressing Dunn, made his move. Dunn would have none of it and they were even again approaching the final kilometer. With both athletes stride for stride and clearly beginning to labor, the pace dropped under 4:30/km. At the final turn with one kilometer to go, Clausen took the lead, threw in a quick surge and powered in for the win in 2:28:00. Dunn trailed him across the line at 2:28:12.

On the women's side, Heidi Hauch worked with Dorit Attias early before pulling away to a comfortable win. In so doing she won the Open and Master's 30 km titles and two American Masters records in her 45-49 age group (25 km and 30 km). Attias came away with a pair of her own records for Israel at both the 25 km and 30 km distances.

The 10 km races were won by Chris Rael on the men's side and Margaret Ditchburn on the women's. The only 20 km entrant was Kathy Frable.

The race was the first stop on the 2005 USATF Race Walk Grand Prix circuit. The next races will be indoors in Lewisburg, Pa., on January 29 with a women's one-mile and men's 3 km National Championships.