U of Wyoming soph with 14:53/25:14 PRs runs 2:12 marathon

absolutely...

no one cares

He’s an aerobic monster. Always has been. Has really impressive bike power and swim splits per Strava as well

Super shoes + quads of steel on a super downhill course. This is probably about a 2:20 on a legit record eligible course like Chicago/Houston though.

hi I care! that's a super impressive run, how much is the 1800' of descent worth?

Slow twitch monster. The NCAA doesn’t really offer much to the really long distance types (NJCAA does). The 14:53 was run on a track at 5,003’. He holds a 12 year old age group record for 5K, so he has likely been running distance for a long time. Coming down from 7,165’ to a downhill marathon at low elevation with a 2,200’ net drop at the end of a XC season where some guys are logging 100-120 mpw, and I can definitely see it. Your average D1 XC runner could probably run 2:20-2:30 with no additional training. Stands to reason there would be some outliers that could run faster. Trent Britney did something similar (2:12) at the 2004 Olympic trials on a tougher course.

With that resume, I hope he’s considering going pro in triathlon.

A former Wyoming All American XC runner, Ryan Bolton, was an Olympian in the triathlon.

Hi Riley!

Riley had some age group world records back in the day. Can’t remember them specifically but I think road 5k and some AAU summer track times that were impressive given his age. This is his first big performance in a while. Awesome to see

That's impressive. Tucson is fast with perfect weather and a lot of downhill. But I have a hard time believing that drop gives him more than 4 minutes advantage. Seems to be a huge outlier given his other performances. Could just be a high mileage aerobic guy as noted above.

Looking at his TFRRS it seems that his XC season was subpar, though his 14:53 was at 5000’ elevation and it looks like he ran a 10k at La Verne last track season in 29:51 as a FR. Looking at some grade adjustments it seems the time would’ve been ~2:15 if flat, also gotta consider altitude since the course started at 3800’ and ended at around 2300’, but that wasn’t factored in. Guy is an aerobic machine.

Was @ 6mi station and he was flying, actually going faster into the half. The only up is at the start so maxed on the down. Weather was perfect, 45 at start, no wind. Top elev. @ 3900' would have been no issue with WY training and the down is worth 10 ~ 15 sec. per mile if quads are prepared so the -4min. is prob. close. In a good weather year @ CIM, likely able to run 2:12 ~ 2:13 or good pack in a major the same. Going solo and pacing off Garmin likely helped. Should hit the portal and move to Provo.

I did some trail runs with Ryan back in the mid-90's, great guy and so happy for him making the Olympics. I think he also qualified for XC nationals while running for the Pokes.

Between those 3 I would pick San Diego State alll day. Some of the best weather in the world, the ocean, more people, more opportunity, amazing food and shopping, youll earn more money if you enter the job market there.

WTF

Yeah, new course is definitely quite a bit faster now that the out and back on Biosphere is gone and no route through those punchy hills back behind the fire station. Great run all around though!

According to info on the website, the net loss is 1912 feet (with no uphills noticable on the elevation profile). The World Athletics limit is about 137 feet (or 42 meters) net loss over a marathon.

So the net drop is about 14 times the legal limit.