Ritzenhein Still Hurting, Pulls Out Of Healthy Kidney 10K
Posted Friday, 9 May, 2008
New York, May 8, 2008—Defending champion and course record-holder Dathan Ritzenhein has withdrawn from the Healthy Kidney 10K, a New York Road Runners race scheduled for Saturday, May 17, in Central Park. He is suffering from a lingering foot injury that has sidelined him for the past 13 weeks.
Ritzenhein, 25, of Eugene, OR, told race organizers that the injury to the third metatarsal of his left foot, which he sustained at the USA Cross Country Championships in February, has persisted; Ritzenhein won that race, and has not competed since. In November 2007, Ritzenhein qualified to represent the United States in the men’s marathon at the Olympic Games in Beijing on August 24.
“We’re very disappointed not to be able to return to New York for the Healthy Kidney 10K,” Ritzenhein said on a conference call today. “With a whole array of ailments, it hasn’t come together in time for me to take on the great field that’s been assembled for the race. Knowing that it might set back my preparation [for Beijing], it was with regret that we made the decision to withdraw.” Ritzenhein said he will use the next three weeks to build up to full training volume and intensity. He then plans to begin a 12-week marathon training regimen. Although he will run the 10,000 meters at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field in Eugene on July 4, he said he definitely will run the marathon at the Olympic Games.
“Dathan is a mega-talent and he deserves the chance to maximize his opportunity to get himself in the best possible shape for Beijing,” said Mary Wittenberg, president and CEO of New York Road Runners. “We are in full support of his decision.”
The Healthy Kidney 10K field features ING New York City Marathon 2006 champion Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil, 2007 IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships silver medalist Patrick Makau of Kenya, and Americans Andrew Carlson of Bloomington, MN, Jason Hartmann of Eugene, OR, and Josh Moen of Readlyn, IA.
Race sponsor Embassy of the United Arab Emirates has established a prize-money purse of $23,500—including $7,500 for the champion—plus a $20,000 bonus for breaking the Central Park 10K record of 28 minutes, 8 seconds, which Ritzenhein set at last year’s race.
New York Road Runners
New York Road Runners is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2008. NYRR is dedicated to promoting the sport of distance running, enhancing health and fitness for all, and responding to community needs. Our road races and other fitness programs draw upwards of 300,000 runners annually, and together with our magazine and website support and promote professional and recreational running. A staff of more than 100, assisted by thousands of volunteers, stages the ING New York City Marathon, as well as a road race nearly every weekend plus many track and cross country events. NYRR’s home base in New York, and its lifelong identification with Central Park, have given many of its events iconic status, attracting the world’s top professional runners. Our youth programs provide running to 30,000 schoolchildren in New York City and around the country who would otherwise have few or no fitness opportunities. For more information, visit www.nyrr.org.
Quotes from Dathan Ritzenhein:
“I’m very disappointed not to defend my title at Healthy Kidney. It’s a great charitable race. Every time I go to New York, I love it there—I’ve had so many great experiences. This is a very difficult choice. With a whole array of ailments, it hasn’t come together in time for me to take on the great field that’s been assembled for the race. Knowing that it might set back my preparation [for Beijing], it was with regret that we made the decision to withdraw.”
[what have been the injuries this year?]
“I’ve had an array of ailments since January, and my health and fitness just haven’t come around. It started with an IT [iliotibial] band problem in January. I was able to train on the treadmill, and I won the National Cross Country with that. But it just got to the point where we were just continuing to fight through it to keep training, and I needed to turn my focus back to the Olympics.”
“When we made the decision not to do the Healthy Kidney, we decided to take on a very low training load for a week—not no training, but cutting back to allow the injury to heal. Now we’ll start a buildup back to full volume, full training by the first week in June—that will be the first week of training for the [Olympic] marathon, and we’ll then have 12 weeks until the marathon. Everything feels good now, and it’s a matter of building the fitness up. We want to make sure that the next three weeks of training are smart.”
[do you have other races planned for June and July?]
“We’re not locked into anything in particular. We will do the Olympic Trials 10K in Eugene on July 4—I’ll just basically roll out of bed and run it. That will be a good switch from full long-distance training.”
[had you not made the marathon team, what would you be doing differently?]
“[Having already qualified for the Olympic team in the marathon] I have the luxury of taking this week of recovery. It’s not a total rest week; my plan is to build back up slowly and reach full training volume by June 1. That will give me a full 12 weeks of training before the Olympic marathon on August 24. That’s definitely the event that I’ve chosen to run in Beijing and that I’ll be training for.”
Quotes from New York Road Runners President and CEO Mary Wittenberg:
“The Olympics come around once every four years. There is no next year for the Olympics, instead there is a next year in four years and four years is a lifetime for long distance and track athletes.”
“Keeping that all in mind while it pains me to make the announcement that our defending champion Dathan Ritzenhein is pulling out of the Healthy Kidney 10K, I can only understand and even agree with his decision and the decision of the team around him. This year, there is no question that it is much better to be cautious than sorry!”
“Dathan is a gritty fighter, we all know that from watching him race, and that same inner strength and determination will also pull him through this injury and get him back fit, healthy and racing very soon. We still expect that Dathan will be a factor in Beijing.”
“While losing Dathan and our defending champion is a setback for the race, it is not a fatal blow and the field that we have still assembled including Marilson Gomes dos Santos, the very exciting Patrick Makau of Kenya and up and coming Americans Andrew Carlson, second at the Central Park Challenge in March, Jason Hartman and Josh Moen is still makes for a very formidable and fast field.”
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