FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein Returns to Action
to Defend Title at 2008 Healthy Kidney 10K
ING New York City Marathon 2006 champion Marilson Gomes dos Santos, 2007
World Half-Marathon silver medalist Patrick Makau to challenge Ritzenhein
New York, April 29, 2008—U.S Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein will return to the
roads of Central Park to defend his title in the Healthy Kidney 10K on
Saturday, May 17, it was announced today by New York Road Runners president
and CEO Mary Wittenberg. Ritzenhein will face stiff competition from an
international field that includes ING New York City Marathon 2006 champion
Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil and 2007 IAAF World Half-Marathon
Championships silver medalist Patrick Makau of Kenya.
Race sponsor Embassy of the United Arab Emirates has once again established
a prize-money purse of $23,500—$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. Ritzenhein donated his 2007 first-place
check of $7,500 to the National Kidney Foundation.
"Dathan owns the Central Park 10K loop," Wittenberg said. "He won in
dominating fashion last year over a stellar field, taking down a
long-standing record. We expect no less of him this year."
Ritzenhein, 25, of Eugene, OR, has developed a home-field advantage of
sorts in Central Park, the site of two of his greatest successes. In 2007,
he ran away from two-time defending champion Craig Mottram of Australia and
set the event and Central Park record. Last November, he followed up his
Healthy Kidney performance with a second-place finish at the U.S. Olympic
Team Trials – Men's Marathon in Central Park to earn a berth on the 2008
Olympic team.
"I'm very excited to come back to New York City for the Healthy Kidney
10K," Ritzenhein said. "This race is becoming one of the best 10K road
races in the country, and I look forward to defending my title this year."
Ritzenhein experienced early success in 2008, winning the USA Cross Country
Championships in February. He had planned to compete in the Central Park
Challenge in March; however, a lingering soreness in his foot forced him to
withdraw the week of the race.
"When I had to pull out [of the Central Park Challenge] with the injury, I
was trying to look to the rest of the year and be smart for the upcoming
Olympics," Ritzenhein said. "It's taken me longer than I thought to come
around, but I hope to be ready to face the great competition that's been
assembled for the Healthy Kidney."
Gomes dos Santos, 30, and Makau, 23, might not have the same experience on
the Central Park course as Ritzenhein, but their strengths at other
distances should put them in position to challenge for the title. Gomes dos
Santos became the first South American to win the famed ING New York City
Marathon when he defeated a world-class field for his first major marathon
victory. He is a Pan American Games medalist and the South American record
holder at 5000 and 10,000 meters. Makau, who will be making his United
States racing debut, owns the third-fastest half-marathon time in history
(58:56). He captured the silver medal at the 2007 World Half-Marathon
Championships and has already won four half-marathon races in 2008.
"Marilson has an ownership stake in Central Park himself as an ING New York
City Marathon champion," Wittenberg said. "He is always a fighter, and we
know he'll be in the game. And Patrick Makau comes into New York on fire
with a banner season thus far. He appears to be the most race-sharp of them
all."
A strong group of American men will return to test their Olympic-year
fitness on the hills of Central Park. Andrew Carlson, 26, of Bloomington,
MN, won the USA 15K Championships earlier this year and was the runner-up
in the Central Park Challenge in March. Jason Hartmann, 27, of Eugene, OR,
has notched two solid Central Park finishes in the past year, capturing
third place in the Central Park Challenge and 10th place in the Olympic
Trials marathon last fall. Josh Moen, 26, of Readlyn, IA, took fourth in
the USA 10K Championships in April and was eighth in the Central Park
Challenge.
The fourth-annual race is sponsored by the Embassy of the United Arab
Emirates to benefit the National Kidney Foundation, in appreciation of
American medical excellence in the kidney transplant field. The late UAE
president Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan benefited from American
expertise, knowledge, and research when he received a kidney transplant in
2000, and this race aims to spread awareness about kidney diseases and the
success of kidney transplants.
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