I know all the fuss is gonna be about Hall right now... and wow it should be... but I was wondering what everyone's perspective on Ritz's race is? Is it an encouraging result, he did beat and run close to some very very good runners... but after this absolute monster of a performance, everything changes for Boulder. Can Ritz run with Hall? Can anyone run with Hall in America? Ritz is an xc specialist, but wow this is big.
Ritz got beat by all the top international elites that were invited. The only names that he beat were Gavin Thompson and Simon Bairu who are only national class at the moment. It's not a bad race though, he went out with the pack and got dropped when Bekele made his huge move. It's about what you would expect from him.
take a look at the results from last year's edinburgh race - similar results (ritz finished 55 secs behind bekele last year.)
and what happened? he ran 13:15/27:35. nice times, but nothing spectacular.
this result was a solid early season showing, nothing more. no where near anything like ryan hall's race.
Come on, now, he beat Bairu by 90-seconds!!!
Ritz always runs better on the turf than the track or the road, relative to other runners. If he runs with 27:00 guys in cross, he may still be ~27:20's at best on the oval.
If Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein, Ian Dobson, Fernando Cabada, Max King, Jason Lemkuhle, Matt Tegenkamp, Abdi Abdirahman, Jorge Torres, Jason Hartmann, Chris Solinsky, Josh Rohatinsky, Brett Schoolmeester, and some other top US distance runners run in Boulder in February, it should be one damn good race. Possibly one of the best USA XC races ever. Yes, ever! Here are my predictions:
1. Dathan Ritzenhein
2. Ryan Hall -0:02
3. Jorge Torres -0:10
4. Fernando Cabada -0:15
5. Ian Dobson -0:16
6. Abdi Abdirahman -0:18
7. Matt Tegenkamp -0:20
8. Jason Hartmann -1:15
9. Josh Rohatinsky -1:20
10. Jason Lemkuhle -1:25
Hall's time is the equiv of < 13:00 and < 27:00 - Ritz.
The Ritz limelight is beginning to dim relative to the spotlight being shone on the others.
McDougal beats Cabada...wait and see
How anyone in their right mind can predict that Ritz will beat Hall right now is beyond me.
If Hall runs a 2.07 spring marathon people will still be talking about Ritz potential to run 2.05 (note to nayslayers - not saying Hall will run that fast)