The greatest story never told. Ritz's 3rd at World Junior XC

Concupiscurd wrote:

oldguy1 wrote:

There is video of the Junior race on YouTube. Also great showdown between Wami and Radcliffe. The conditions were laughable

link?

Finish is about 28 minutes in.

what's so great? wrote:

Why exactly is this such a great race by Ritz? Bekele is the GOAT of course, but Ritz still lost to him by 42 seconds and I assume he was fresh compared to Bekele who was doubling back. Who did he beat? Are any of those other Africans that he raced highly accomplished? I did a quick search and it looks like the 2nd place guy was "only" a 13:46/28:12 guy.

Agree. He beat a bunch of scrubs. Not a big deal.

Found the link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRKXWaygdAs

zikes wrote:

what's so great? wrote:

Why exactly is this such a great race by Ritz? Bekele is the GOAT of course, but Ritz still lost to him by 42 seconds and I assume he was fresh compared to Bekele who was doubling back. Who did he beat? Are any of those other Africans that he raced highly accomplished? I did a quick search and it looks like the 2nd place guy was "only" a 13:46/28:12 guy.

Agree. He beat a bunch of scrubs. Not a big deal.

How about Nicholas Kemboi who ran 26:30 in the 10,000?

zikes wrote:

what's so great? wrote:

Why exactly is this such a great race by Ritz? Bekele is the GOAT of course, but Ritz still lost to him by 42 seconds and I assume he was fresh compared to Bekele who was doubling back. Who did he beat? Are any of those other Africans that he raced highly accomplished? I did a quick search and it looks like the 2nd place guy was "only" a 13:46/28:12 guy.

Agree. He beat a bunch of scrubs. Not a big deal.

Kemboi who was behind Ritz ran 26:30 for 10K in 2003, methinks that's not too shabby

BS wrote:

zikes wrote:

Agree. He beat a bunch of scrubs. Not a big deal.

Kemboi who was behind Ritz ran 26:30 for 10K in 2003, methinks that's not too shabby

Mo Farah was I think 59th that race too.

coach wrote:

zikes wrote:

Agree. He beat a bunch of scrubs. Not a big deal.

How about Nicholas Kemboi who ran 26:30 in the 10,000?

Bekele still blew him out. Kemboi is one person and he clearly wasn’t running to his potential in this race if he ended up being a 26:30 guy. Teg coming in 5th and only 9 seconds behind ritz is also proof that Ritz’s third wasn’t all that great of an accomplishment

Anyone that gets top 5 at WJXC is a very very good junior runner. Its not Footlocker ya know. Teg did a great job that day. Granted it probably helped him and Ritz that conditions were ridiculously horrible and they were strong on an absolutely brutal course. Look at that video. That course was a nightmare perfect for a true cross runner.

briswiss wrote:

coach wrote:

How about Nicholas Kemboi who ran 26:30 in the 10,000?

Bekele still blew him out. Kemboi is one person and he clearly wasn’t running to his potential in this race if he ended up being a 26:30 guy. Teg coming in 5th and only 9 seconds behind ritz is also proof that Ritz’s third wasn’t all that great of an accomplishment

It was an incredible accomplishment, as was Teg’s run. Teg was in his freshman year at UW, where he redshirted cross and basically trained just for WJXC. I think he redshirted track, too.

Anyway, he went on to record PRs of 3:34, 7:34, 8:07 AR 2 Mile, and 12:58. All world class times.

Ritz was just a high school senior.

Ritz went on to run 7:39, 8:11 2 Mile, 12:56, 27:22 (his weakest mark; everything else indicates sub-27:00 capability), 60:00, and 2:07:47. Also all world class times.

Ben True's 6th in the senior race at the 2013 World Cross was another great story. It was the best American performance since the early/mid 80s when we had Virgin, Salzar, and Porter and remains the highest American finish this century.

I'd just like to put it out there that I was living in Germany at the time and offered Dyestat to cover it if they'd cover the cost of local train travel and hotel at the race, along with my now wife as photographer. They declined, so that is why there was no one on site that day to cover it for us all.

briswiss wrote:

coach wrote:

How about Nicholas Kemboi who ran 26:30 in the 10,000?

Bekele still blew him out. Kemboi is one person and he clearly wasn’t running to his potential in this race if he ended up being a 26:30 guy. Teg coming in 5th and only 9 seconds behind ritz is also proof that Ritz’s third wasn’t all that great of an accomplishment

If he loses he sucks and if he wins his competitors weren't trying? By the way Teg beat Ritz in the US jr trials race. Teg was no slouch either. XC is a race of attrition and the Americans held on that day. Kemboi no doubt ran his best that day, Ritz was tougher.

zvcxzcvx wrote:

I'd just like to put it out there that I was living in Germany at the time and offered Dyestat to cover it if they'd cover the cost of local train travel and hotel at the race, along with my now wife as photographer. They declined, so that is why there was no one on site that day to cover it for us all.

Wow. The plot thickens for real.

Ritz went on to close to some extent on Bekele when the former broke BK's American record with 12:56. You can talk about no names, other than Bekele and Kemboi, but when Jakob finished 12th at World Junior XC, most of those guys ahead of him had nothing like the track credentials he had either. Unfortunate, of course, to see Mourhit, the guy busted for doping later, win easily his 2nd World XC senior title at the long course. But good to see BK, Meb, and Abdi take third in the team competition, one of only two or three men's team medals in the last thirty years or so, I think. It was also on a day of miserable conditions, even worse in fact, in Poland in 2013 when the U.S. beat out Kenya for a team silver, I think. Also, fantastic finishes in the women's senior races between Gete Wami (short course winner in the final sprint after drafting off of Radcliffe in the headwind and kicking ahead only at the end) and Paula Radcliffe (long course winning after Wami sprinted a bit early).

Thank so much for your insight.

Did you get a chance to talk to Ritz, Teg, or their coaches before the race even though you didn't go? If you did, could you share some of that with us?

what's so great? wrote:

Who did he beat? Are any of those other Africans that he raced highly accomplished?

Nicholas Kemboi ran 10000m in 26:30.03 just two years later.

Maybe because he got third and is, thus, a loser?

TheSummerSoldier wrote:

Did you get a chance to talk to Ritz, Teg, or their coaches before the race even though you didn't go? If you did, could you share some of that with us?

??