Goucher Out of Next Week 8k Champs With Pneumonia By David Monti (c) 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved March 7, 2007
Adam
Goucher, who had hoped to challenge his coach's national 8-K record at
the U.S. 8-K Championship in New York City in ten days time, has been
forced to withdraw from the race due to illness.
"He's got
pneumonia and he's been sick for over ten days," said Goucher's coach,
Alberto Salazar, in an e-mail message sent to race organizers, the New
York Road Runners. "He's under orders of no running for five days.
Obviously the 8-K race is out of question at this point."
Both
Goucher, and his wife Kara, were stricken. Kara was forced to miss the
U.S. Indoor Championships late last month where she was a contender to
win the 3000m.
A 31 year-old Olympian, Goucher was looking
forward to dueling Dathan Ritzenhein for the title and possibly
toppling Salazar's record of 22:04 set in Los Altos, Calif., in 1981,
one of the oldest standing records in U.S. road running. In addition
to a $35,000 prize money purse, the Road Runners have offered a $25,000
bonus to the race winner if he dips under Salazar's record.
"Our
hearts go out to Adam as we know he was ready to run for the win and
the record," said NYRR President and CEO, Mary Wittenberg, in a
prepared statement.
Leading contenders in the field include
Olympians Ritzenhein, Abdi Abdirahman, returning champion Jorge Torres,
and steeplechaser Anthony Famiglietti, a late addition to the race. The
race course will cover the last 8 km of the route that will be used
when NYRR hosts the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men's Marathon on
Saturday, November 3, 2007.