Ritz is moving back to Grand Rapids and leaving the Oregon Project.
http://www.mlive.com/sports/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/05/olympian_dathan_ritzenhein_mov.html
He also tweeted "Dathan Ritzenhein @djritzenhein 6m
Thrilled to announce I will be moving back to West Mi, this summer! I'll miss my @OregonPJT team but looking forward to being home!"
In similar news, Adam Goucher goes on an eliptigo ride.
"Ritzenhein, who is here this week for the Fifth Third River Bank Run, said he will continue to train for competitive racing this fall, but it will be in Grand Rapids. The rest, he said, remains unchanged. He will still be sponsored by Nike, run with the Oregon Project and work with longtime coach Alberto Salazar.
“They just want to see me succeed,” Ritzenhein said of his relationship with Nike. “I’ll be happier here, and I’ll do better here.”"
Ritz is still in the group. Just moving back home.
Looks like he'll still be coached by AlSal, and still race under NOP. Just a change of scenery. Says its for family, but I bet hes tired of getting picked on by Centro!
Deep in the depths of my brain when I saw he was moving there, I immediately thought of the Hansons folks, but no big switch from the swoosh. Would be interesting, but he is miles ahead of those guys anyhow. At least when he is healthy.
Idiot.
"The rest, he said, remains unchanged. He will still be sponsored by Nike, run with the Oregon Project and work with longtime coach Alberto Salazar.
“They just want to see me succeed,” Ritzenhein said of his relationship with Nike. “I’ll be happier here, and I’ll do better here.”
He'd actually previously said that at some point he'd go back to Michigan. Maybe being injured moved that up. But yeah, he's still with Salazar and the Oregon Project.
demethedream wrote:
Deep in the depths of my brain when I saw he was moving there, I immediately thought of the Hansons folks, but no big switch from the swoosh.
Financially he needs to continue under the Swoosh. Hansons probably can't afford the $300k a year. Although I would love to see what he could run under a program that focuses on the marathon.
stick a fork in him
good for ritz - sounds like he will try for 2016 OG then start dialing back. Sounds like he will be building a club team with himself as coach or something like that.
he's a good one - I hope he can find a way to stay with the sport.
Everyone is starting to realize that Portland sucks for running... Shalane will announce shortly she is moving to the Boston area.
chef wrote:
stick a fork in him
D O N E
After reading Dot McMahon's interview I don't think I'd want to go to Hansons. They sound like bigger A-Holes than Salazar.
http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=2514&do=news&news_id=254393
He already has a pending sale (to a contingent buyer, meaning they need to sell their house first) on his Portland area home. Interesting that the private remarks in the listing say "Please note the "altitude system" will be removed at closing."
Ponder wrote:
After reading Dot McMahon's interview I don't think I'd want to go to Hansons. They sound like bigger A-Holes than Salazar.
http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=2514&do=news&news_id=254393
Seriously....what in that interview gives you any clue that the Hansons are A-holes? There is nothing. They are not A-holes.
MI Man wrote:
Ponder wrote:After reading Dot McMahon's interview I don't think I'd want to go to Hansons. They sound like bigger A-Holes than Salazar.
http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=2514&do=news&news_id=254393Seriously....what in that interview gives you any clue that the Hansons are A-holes? There is nothing. They are not A-holes.
Is it that people are coming and going a lot, or that Dot wasn't invited to Florida? Sound too harsh for you?
This isn't some DIII team that takes every walk-on. It's a professional running team that tries to develop A-listers out of people who don't have A-list resumes. Of course there's going to be a lot of turnover. They're not going to just throw resources at people indiscriminately.
Although I can't speak for this year as I was not around, I can say that Dot never wanted to go to Florida as she has a beautiful 4 year old daughter at home.
demethedream wrote:
Looks like he'll still be coached by AlSal, and still race under NOP. Just a change of scenery. Says its for family, but I bet hes tired of getting picked on by Centro!
Deep in the depths of my brain when I saw he was moving there, I immediately thought of the Hansons folks, but no big switch from the swoosh. Would be interesting, but he is miles ahead of those guys anyhow. At least when he is healthy.
He's definitely better than Bobby Curtis, but I wouldn't say that he's *miles ahead* of him, especially after Curtis just ran 27:46.
The problem is that Grand Rapids and Detroit are in different parts of Michigan.
Ritz move back to MI = career over. He will no longer have access to soft trails, alter G treadmills, underwater treadmills, hydro iclandic cyborg recovery contraptions, etc. He gets hurt just sneezing. Great career but better days are behind him.
Good for them. They are thinking about their lives beyond running.
Actually he is signing on as an assistant coach with Grand Valley's running program and they have an Alter-G sooooo...