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Young runners lead U.S. rise in distance

Hall, Goucher lead charge in marathon, hope to challenge Kenyan distance running

By Steven McCarthy

Posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009, 3:54 am

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It had been 24 years since an American male and female both stood on the podium after finishing in the top three in the Boston Marathon.

Last Monday, Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher ended the drought by both finishing third in the world’s oldest annual marathon.

The race highlighted a promising group of young American marathoners who are making an effort to deter the distance-running dominance from Kenya, Ethiopia and Morocco. Kenyan men have won 16 of the last 19 Boston Marathons, and Kenyan women have won seven of the last 10.

Ethiopian Deriba Merga won the men’s race this year, and Salina Kosgei of Kenya took the women’s race. The last American male to win in Boston was Greg Meyer in 1982, and the last American female winner was Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach, who took home the crown in 1985.

In 2006, the five most prestigious marathons in the world – Boston, New York City, Berlin, London and Chicago – collaborated to form a race series known as the World Marathon Majors. Similar to professional golf’s major tournaments, the prize money is increased for these events, adding incentive for runners to move up to the grueling distance.

Older runners have historically raced the 26.2-mile international marathon distance in the United States becuse they can no longer maintain the leg speed necessary to be competitive in the shorter distances on the track. Some exceptions to the age trend are 24-year-old Frank Shorter’s win at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Alberto Salazar winning the New York City Marathon in 1980 at age 20 and Cathy Schiro’s 2:34:24 in the 1984 Olympic Trials Marathon at age 16.

Lately, U.S. coaches have been assisting the transition of several young, elite 5000- and 10,000-meter runners who have had success in their own country in the events, but stand a better chance of competing with the Africans at the marathon distance based on their physiology.

Since 2006, nine American men under the age of 25 have run faster than 2:20.00 in their marathon debut. Eleven women since that time have opened with times faster than 2:45.00.

Hall debuted at age 24 and trained under coach Terrence Mahon of Team Running USA. Mahon felt Hall performed better in the longer duration workouts required of marathoners. Hall’s college career at Stanford University was marred by injury, though he was a two-time All-American in cross country. He won the University of Maine’s Murray Keatinge Cross Country Invitational in his collegiate debut.

Hall made a statement to the rest of the world in 2008 with a 2:06:17 in the London Marathon, giving him the fastest time ever clocked by an American-born runner. The time seeded him first among eight Africans in the elite field at Boston who had all run sub-2:08.00 marathons. Moroccan immigrant Khalid Khannouchi holds the American record of 2:05:38.

In November 2007, Hall and 26-year-old Dathan Ritzenhein took the top two spots on the U.S.A. Olympic Marathon Team. Hall went on to finish tenth in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, while Ritzenhein finished ninth.

Ritzenhein ran the London Marathon on Sunday and finished 11th at 2:10.00. The University of Colorado graduate ran his first marathon at age 23, competing in the 2006 New York City Marathon. His college track career was also shortened by injuries, and after a disappointing 11th place finish in his debut, Ritzenhein returned to New York City for the Olympic Trials and finished with a personal best of 2:11:07.

Goucher, 30, of Portland, Oregon, is coached by Alberto Salazar. She burst into the world marathon scene last November when she finished third at her marathon debut in New York City. She competed in the 10,000-meter run on the track in Beijing and finished 10th in the final. Goucher had plans of running the Boston-London double after she felt the initial pace at Boston was too slow, but Salazar reportedly talked her out of racing on Sunday.

The young American contingent has inspired some of Maine’s under-30-year-old talent to recent post-collegiate marathon success. In Boston, four of the top five finishers from Maine were age 30 or younger. Two were just 22.

Whether the youth movement is fueled by the appeal of trying something new or the potential success in an event traditionally cherished by the older generation of runners, the rest of the world should become more familiar with the young nucleus of American marathoners in the coming years.