Dathan Ritzenhein winning the Healthy Kidney race with a time of 28:08 (© NYRR)
U.S Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein will return to the roads of Central Park to defend his title in the Healthy Kidney 10K on Saturday, 17 May, organizers announced.
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.
“Dathan owns the Central Park 10K loop,” said New York Road Runners President and CEO Mary Wittenberg. “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, clocking 28:08. 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.”
Strong challenge awaits
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 medallist and the South American record holder at 5000 and 10,000 metres. 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 Road Running 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 race sponsor has once again established a prize-money purse of $23,500 - $7500 for the champion - plus a $20,000 bonus for breaking the Central Park 10K record of 28:08. Last year Ritzenhein donated his first-place check to the National Kidney Foundation.
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.
Sara Hunninghake (NYRRC) for the IAAF
