2008 Woodie Awards
U.S. Olympic runners chosen in N.Y.C.; Tradgedy mars event
Dillon Bates
Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: Maine Sports
There are incredible feats of athleticism and then there are testaments to the human body. The New York Marathon falls into the latter category. The most grueling event in athletics, very few humans are actually in condition to race the 26.2 miles.
In addition, every four years, the world's largest and longest running sporting event comes around: the summer Olympic Games.
As one can imagine, when these two superlatives of sport combine for the Olympic Trials, in which only the top three runners from every nation will qualify to represent their country on the world stage, it creates quite a spectacle. The U.S. trials are held in New York City, the cultural, and often the athletic epicenter of the country, in front of hundreds of thousands of live spectators.
A man named Phidippides ran the first marathon in ancient Athens, and the event became a centerpiece of the Olympic Games. In his day, Phidippides' ran to spread news and request help for a battle. In 2007, the run itself was the battle.
Wandering around the streets of midtown Manhattan before 5 a.m. sounds crazy to some people, but my friend and I were crazy enough to have just bused 10 hours from Bangor to the Port Authority and weren't about to stop there. The U.S. Olympic Trials, the biggest sporting event in the U.S. in the last few years was being held at 7:30 a.m. in Central Park. We knew we were in for a show, but we didn't know just how dramatic that show would be. Before 10 a.m., we, along with the rest of the city, would be witness to every emotion from exuberance to tragedy.
The race, which consisted of the best 134 marathoners in the nation, started off in Rockefeller Center, and would enter Central Park about a mile later, to complete the rest of the course in a series of five five-mile loops. The race started out at a fairly pedestrian pace, with the pack averaging right around a five-minute mile for the first few miles. However, around five miles in, the favorites took the lead, Meb Keflezighi, the 2004 Silver Medalist in Athens among them. Other challengers were Dan Browne, a 2004 Olympian in the 10,000 meters, Khalid Khannouchi, another 2004 Olympian and former world record holder, Abdi Abdirahman, the favorite to win and Dathan Ritzenhein, a promising young runner. With them also was Ryan Hall, an NCAA National Champion in the 5,000 meters, but a young kid who had only ever run one marathon in his life.
In addition, every four years, the world's largest and longest running sporting event comes around: the summer Olympic Games.
As one can imagine, when these two superlatives of sport combine for the Olympic Trials, in which only the top three runners from every nation will qualify to represent their country on the world stage, it creates quite a spectacle. The U.S. trials are held in New York City, the cultural, and often the athletic epicenter of the country, in front of hundreds of thousands of live spectators.
A man named Phidippides ran the first marathon in ancient Athens, and the event became a centerpiece of the Olympic Games. In his day, Phidippides' ran to spread news and request help for a battle. In 2007, the run itself was the battle.
Wandering around the streets of midtown Manhattan before 5 a.m. sounds crazy to some people, but my friend and I were crazy enough to have just bused 10 hours from Bangor to the Port Authority and weren't about to stop there. The U.S. Olympic Trials, the biggest sporting event in the U.S. in the last few years was being held at 7:30 a.m. in Central Park. We knew we were in for a show, but we didn't know just how dramatic that show would be. Before 10 a.m., we, along with the rest of the city, would be witness to every emotion from exuberance to tragedy.
The race, which consisted of the best 134 marathoners in the nation, started off in Rockefeller Center, and would enter Central Park about a mile later, to complete the rest of the course in a series of five five-mile loops. The race started out at a fairly pedestrian pace, with the pack averaging right around a five-minute mile for the first few miles. However, around five miles in, the favorites took the lead, Meb Keflezighi, the 2004 Silver Medalist in Athens among them. Other challengers were Dan Browne, a 2004 Olympian in the 10,000 meters, Khalid Khannouchi, another 2004 Olympian and former world record holder, Abdi Abdirahman, the favorite to win and Dathan Ritzenhein, a promising young runner. With them also was Ryan Hall, an NCAA National Champion in the 5,000 meters, but a young kid who had only ever run one marathon in his life.
Be the first to comment on this story