Wild 1500 in NZ: 15-yr old Sam Ruthe ties 3:31 man Sam Tanner in DEAD HEAT at Kiwi nationals

Here he is. Everyone’s ray of positivity. Rojo deleted my comment about you marching Sam Ruthe and his whole family off to the drug test room post race.

It's a national race where only 2-3 guys can run under sub 4 for the mile so 3:44 for a NZ championship race is actually fast!

To be fair half the remainder of the field had pbs of 3.46 or better and only Oli Chignell gave it a crack.

Rojo wants to portray the forum as being 'famously anti-doping', and what better way to do that then allow baseless doping accusations against a child? Meanwhile, he allows (or instructs?) his mods to protect certain fully-grown individuals (such as Arop) from any doping talk.

Ruthe's at 2:50 and maybe .6/.7 at the bell, so that makes it about 53.5-53.7 for his last lap, a lot more impressive than a 56/56 close. The kid's got a real future and not too bad a present.

An exciting race and fantastic sportsmanship by Sam Tanner with his young training partner.

Ironic that the subject of possible doping has been raised by those most offended by any mention of it.

For a 15 year old to tie with a 3:31 runner is off the charts. It is as hard to believe as much as anything in the sport today.

From the video looks more like 54. I think the announcer is wrong, the split with a lap to go is at least 2:50.

It’s still a relatively slow time and maybe Tanner is not fit and/or didn’t take the race seriously. The guys a couple a seconds behind him are barely 4:00 milers and there are American HSers who could run those splits. He ran a great race but he’s still nowhere near 3:31.

Soon to be 16. Tough to predict, but maybe he goes 3:35- 3 seconds quicker than Myers age 16 record.

Here is comparison, a 3:35.6 @ 16 equals a 1:45.6 800m by 16 year old Lutkenhaus

20.08 200m age 16 equivalent and Gout went 20.04

The 7:52 age 16 3000m record is soft, this should be closer to 7:38

runhive.com

Age-Graded Calculator with Equivalent Performances

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Determine your age-graded score for any running race distance and calculate equivalent times at other distances from 100 meters to 100 miles.

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My point is that his performance should be judged by splits and finishing time and that how close he ran against a 3:31 guy, doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

I was thinking that too, they called the 1100 mark though at 2:48 ?

One minute is 3:48, 56 is 3:44, right? 2:50 which is what I saw? gets you 54, right?

I was and am confused.

Tanner jusr ran 3:51 in the mile.

WHat I don't about Tanner is he was in New Zealand in January. He then flew over to the US and raced 3 times in Boston. But he never got in a big meet.

Could he not get into NBIGP or Millrose?

He ran well but the Eagle Elite Invitational and Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational aren't exactly the Monaco DL. I guess it might be tough.

If Farken couldn’t get in NBIGP and was last man in at Millrose, I could see Tanner not being able to get in. Although in 2022-23 he ran 3:31 a few times, he been more of a 3:34/3:51 guy since. Assuming he came to the US to chase a qualifier, but he isn’t there yet.

Ok Rojo, get your point. But why should he? Talking about Teare here, but I suppose Tanner too. I mean, yeah, if he is or they are burning to do the steeple, then fine.

But turn your comment back 4-5 years and what would it do. Why did Woody do the 5 and 10… should’ve just gone to the roads dude? Didn’t he realize that Fisher and Celina were just better? Has Woody’s career been a mistake so far. No way!! He’s been one of the most entertaining and beloved runners of the past 5+ years. The fact he had it tough made people root for him even more. Didn’t and doesn’t hurt that he’s also the best interview on the circuit. He talked about what was hard, what worked.

You, as former coach, are maybe too much trying to facilitate optimization. Sometimes a runner has to follow what they believe. So maybe Teare thinks he can still break in on a 1500 team, or more likely the 5000. Personally, I’d love to watch him try either.

He might make a team, he might not. Either way, it will always be more exciting to see someone go for their dream than to see them try the safest, and maybe more rational path.

Post above was meant to quote Rojo’s here.

Ps. No disrespect with my “ok Rojo…” disagreement at the start. I love the discussion you stimulate.

For Tanner, it's more what's the alternative here? For one thing, he has a safe path to make global teams as long as he hits the standards/points needed. It's also unclear that he'd be any more competitive vs. Ruthe (or anyone else) at 5,000/Steeple let's say. Similar situation with Hoare now with Myers rising up. He's shown some 5,000 abilities but has achieved more in the 1,500. It's not like Mills/Teare/Almgren who you could argue should probably read the tea leaves and move up to the 5,000 (as Almgren already has) or at least give it equal focus.

Tanner broke 3:35 at age 20 when that was pretty rare for a Western athlete at that age. I think if anyone he'd have perspective on someone hitting it big at a young age, and staying in your own lane.