Photo above by www.photorun.net: Alan Webb won the 2007 Reebok Grand Prix Men's Mile in New York City.

Fans in New York City Can View Great Talent
Dathan Ritzenhein will take on Alan Webb in a renewal of one of America's leading long distance rivalries at the Central Park Challenge on Saturday, March 15. In addition to Ritzenhein, New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg has announced the additions of 10,000m track ace Abdi Abdirahman and 2005 USA 8K Championship winner Jorge Torres to the men's race.

The event, which will feature the USA Mens 8K Championship, Womens Invitational 8K, and NYRR 8000m People's Race, is expected to draw a host of America's best distance runners from the mile to the marathon. The races will be contested over the 8K (4.97-mile) distance on a fan-friendly criterium-style course with a total prize-money purse of $70,000. $10,000 will be awarded to the top male and female finishers.

Alan Webb (25), of Reston,VA capped a stellar 2007 track season with a road victory in the Continental Airlines(R) Fifth Avenue Mile in September, holding off the defending champion, Kevin Sullivan of Canada, in the closing meters to claim his first victory on the streets of New York City. (He finished second in the 2005 Fifth Avenue Mile.) Webb has been most successful on the track, particularly in July 2007, when he ran 3:46.91 in Brasschaat, Belgium, to better Steve Scott's 25- year-old American mile record. A 2004 Olympian at 1500 meters, Webb will be a favorite in that event at the Olympic Trials in June.

"I am really excited about running the USA 8K champs," Webb said. "It will be great to start my season off by running in New York City."

Dathanm Ritzenhein, 25, of Eugene, OR, will return to Central Park, the location of two of his greatest career successes to date. Last November, he earned a berth on the 2008 Olympic Team in the marathon after finishing second in an epic U.S. Olympic Team Trials--Mens Marathon race in Central Park (Photo Above by www.photorun.net). Prior to that in 2007, Ritz won the Healthy Kidney 10K in a Central Park record of 28:08.

Dathan Ritzenhein holds a 5-2 advantage in races against Alan Webb; they first raced against each other in 1999 at the Foot Locker National High School Cross Country Championships. In that race, Ritzenhein captured the victory in a course-record 14:29.83; Webb was eighth. In their last two meetings, Webb won the 10,000m race at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational in 2006, and Ritzenhein won the 2-mile at the 2007 Prefontaine Classic.

"Alan [Webb] and I seem to have been attached at the hip since high school," Ritzenhein said. "Every time we race it seems to be an exciting competition, and hopefully it will be another one at the USA 8K Championship. I was surprised at both how good I felt in the USA Cross Country Championships and at my fitness. I hope to carry that momentum into this race and the rest of the season."

Abdi Abdirahman, 31, of Tucson, AZ, had a stellar 2007 following his second-place finish in the 2007 USA 8K Championship. He won three national titles at the 10,000m (track), 10K, and 10-mile distances. He was also the runner-up in the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE last August.

In 2005, fresh off his 13th-place finish at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Jorge Torres, 27, of Boulder, CO, ran away from Abdirahman at the USA 8K Championship to win his first U.S. title as a professional. In 2006, he won the U.S. national title in the 10,000m (track). Torres' twin brother, Edwardo, who finished ninth at the USA Cross Country Championships, is also entered in the race this year.

Track & Field Olympic Trials contenders James Carney, Aaron Aguayo, Ian Dobson, Josh McAdams, Ed Moran, and Bolota Asmerom will add additional depth to the talented men's field. Carney, 29, of Boulder, CO, most recently won the 2008 U.S. Half- Marathon title in January in Houston. Aguayo, 24, of Tempe, AZ, made his first World Championships team last summer in the 3000- meter steeplechase after completing his eligibility at Arizona State University in 2007. Dobson, 26, was the 2005 NCAA indoor champion, and currently trains with Team Running USA in Mammoth Lakes, CA. McAdams, 27, of Orem, UT, was the 2007 USA champion in the 3000m steeplechase and a gold medalist in that event at the 2007 Pan American Games. Moran, 27, of Williamsburg, VA, was the 2007 Pan American Games gold medalist in the 5000 meters. Asmerom, 29, of Eugene, OR, was a 2000 Olympian for Eritrea, and became a U.S. citizen in 2002. He has twice finished third at the USA 8K Championship, in 2004 and 2007.

Ritzenhein, Jorge Torres, and Moran all experienced early- season success on February 16 at the USA Cross Country Championships Men's 12K in San Diego, earning qualifying spots on the IAAF World Cross Country Championships team. The men will compete in the championships on March 29 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Ritzenhein powered his way to a convincing victory in the 12K race with a time of 35:03, while Torres finished second (35:29), and Moran was fourth (35:42). In total, six athletes scheduled to compete in the 8K finished in the top 10: Carney (sixth place, 35:56), Max King (seventh, 35:57), and Edwardo Torres (ninth, 36:01).

A $10,000 bonus will be awarded to any winner who breaks the existing American 8K record of 22:04 for the men (Alberto Salazar, 1981) or 24:36 for the women (Deena Kastor, 2005).

Photo by www.photorun.net: Always a tough competitor, Abdi Abdirahman of Tucson, AZ finished second in the 2007 New York City Half Marathon Presented by Nike.