At This Pace, He Hopes He Can Walk Away With a Gold Medal : Racewalking: Mission Viejo man is among the best in the United States and is among the favorites in the Olympic Festival’s 20-kilometer race.

As he cruises along the streets and sidewalks of south Orange County, Allen James passes jogger after jogger, offering each a quick wave and a sympathetic smile.

He figures it can’t be much fun being passed by a guy out for his daily walk.

“Their egos might be hurt when I walk by them,” says James, 27. “But when they realize how fast I’m going, I think they gain a lot of respect for what I’m doing.”

What James is doing--usually at a 7-minute-per-mile clip--is training to become the best racewalker in the United States. The Mission Viejo resident is ranked third in the nation by Track & Field News magazine.

Friday, James will be among the favorites in the 20-kilometer race walk at the Olympic Festival. The 20K (12.4-mile) event, held on the track at UCLA’s Drake Stadium, starts at 7 a.m.

In last year’s Olympic Festival at Minneapolis, James won the silver medal in what would have been a career-best time. The course, it was later discovered, was nearly two kilometers short of 20K.

Now in the best shape of his life, James hopes to improve on his best time--1 hour 27 minutes 47 seconds, set in May at the World Cup trials in San Jose. He says he’s using the Olympic Festival race as a workout of sorts.

His goal is to peak for the Sept. 29 Alongi Racewalk International in Detroit. The race, named after former Italian Olympic racewalking great Casmiro Alongi, attracts some of the world’s best, and James hopes to be pushed.

He’s hoping to finish in 1:24 or faster--the qualifying standard for the 1992 Olympic Games at Barcelona, Spain. James has already qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials next June in New Orleans, but just making the team is not enough.

Elaine Ward, racewalking chairwoman for The Athletics Congress, , said because the sport is still developing in the United States, American racewalkers are not yet competitive against the world’s best--the Soviets, Italians, Mexicans. Ward says James, who finished 67th in a field of 137 at the World Cup championships last month, is a typical American racewalker.

“He’s been improving and he’ll continue to improve,” said Ward. “He’s got a lot of work to do, though. They all do.”

That doesn’t bother James. He’s in it for the long haul.

A middle distance runner as a boy, James grew up in Seattle, where his mother owned a running store. James worked in the store and became a running shoe expert.

“At 11, I could tell the customer all about midsoles,” James said. “Or why you should or shouldn’t wear such-and-such shoe if you were a pronator.”

But James got more from the store than retail experience. Many famous runners and coaches visited the store, and his mother, who also helped organize local road races, was always inviting them over for dinner or offering them a place to stay.

A Mexican national racewalking team once stayed a few nights. James, who was just becoming interested in the sport, remembers meeting one of the team’s younger members, 16-year-old Ernesto Canto. Canto went on to become an Olympic gold medalist and world-record holder.

“I grew up a track brat,” James said. “My brother used to work for Nike. He and my mom put on the Olympic marathon trials in 1984. I officiated track meets, even when I was in junior high. I got to meet a lot of people.”

After high school, James went to Western Washington University, an NAIA school. Unlike NCAA colleges, NAIA schools offer racewalking in their track programs. James was a four-time All-American for the Vikings and finished second in the 10K walk at the 1985 NAIA national championships.

Today, James is manager for the track and field team of Athletes in Action, a national Christian-oriented sports program. He oversees more than 100 athletes nationwide. It’s a busy job, but James manages to squeeze in training time.

He walks about 60 miles a week, including a 20-miler once a week and intervals on the UC Irvine track. On Sundays, he usually walks home after church, a 17-mile trek from Santa Ana. “I wear my running shorts under my church clothes, then I just get going,” James said.

James said many Americans do not appreciate the sport, but he hopes his success will inspire a few to give it a try. Once a month or so, he meets with a local racewalking club, the Irvine-based Easy Striders, to lend advice and support.

“My main thing right now is to compete and train,” James said. “If I had more opportunities, I’d like to tell more people about it.”

Maybe he could start with the people he passes.