Moving past the laughter

When Patrick Stroupe showed up at the Central Methodist University track in Fayette as a freshman in 2003, he saw then-junior Beth Lewis walking around the track and started laughing.

Her form was odd, he thought, and the sport even stranger. He mocked her movement until Gary Stoner, CMU’s track and field coach at the time, told Stroupe he should give it a try.

Four months later, Stroupe claimed the NAIA outdoor racewalking championship.

The track event has allowed Stroupe, a mediocre long-distance track runner in high school, the opportunity to compete each year for a national championship. The only catch? Now it’s his turn to be on the receiving end of the jokes.

“I still get heckled and laughed at all the time, but that’s OK,” Stroupe said. “Like one time, I was walking up through a park, and an old lady said, ‘My, you walk funny.’”

Last summer, Stroupe received an invitation to represent the U.S. team at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Islands Track and Field Meet in the Dominican Republic. One of two racewalkers on the U.S. team, Stroupe finished last in the 10K racewalk, although three of the other eight walkers were disqualified for technical errors.

Stroupe has set a goal of claiming his second indoor and third outdoor NAIA championships this year. Then the sights shift to the U.S. Championships and Olympic trials.

He still takes the jokes and teasing in good stride. He’s learned to love an often-stigmatized sport, and he knows that more success is on the horizon. All anyone has to do is listen to his voice mail recording.

“Hi, this is Patrick Stroupe. I’m out winning a national championship.”