Race Walkers: I'm Still Standing
Trailer, Synopsis and Plot
"It's like having a competition to see who can whisper the loudest... and I think there is an audience for that."
Synopsis
What's more depressing than the small town life as a religiously confused roller rink DJ, or a has been, control hungry coach of the local high school color guard team? Only the disappointment in falling short again and again of the Olympic dream that is race walking. Race Walkers: I'm Still Standing, a mockumentary of the Callahan brothers' quest to qualify in the Olympic Trials for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, takes a startling and comedic look into the lives of competitors fighting to establish themselves as accepted athletes. From failed endorsements, to overlooked trend setting sportswear. But what really goes on in the world of race walking? We finally catch a glance into the dark, medium paced, and startlingly real scene of underground race walking and the heroes that keep it alive. Race Walkers reveals the pain, the passion, and triumph from the rise, downfall, and dramatic comeback of two brothers and their one last shot at glory.
Plot Outline
Accomplished race walker Jeb and hot headed younger brother Joel Callahan are two idealistic athletes pursuing the seemingly impossible dream of qualifying for the 2008 Olympics while training in the running Mecca of the United States and living in a trailer home with their mother on the outskirts of Boulder, CO. Led by their wheel chair ridden coach, Chuck Kuel, a self proclaimed race walking legend and victim of the boycotted 1980 Moscow Olympics, the brothers must fight not only for a dream that repeatedly eludes them, but for the respect of the mocking athletic world. They must fight for one last chance to escape a life of disappointment and failure to embody the glory of being an athletic icon. After several races, training sessions, and personal battles with their past, including a tragic train accident that left their coach paralyzed and took the life of their father, the brothers find themselves at the Olympic trials along side rival Ivan Ivanov, who fled Russia's stacked talent pools of race walkers to qualify for Beijing as an American. On the final stretch, it comes down to Jeb or Joel for the last spot on the team, battling each other for a chance at a new life.