Jason Hartmann ran a smart race on a historic day in Central Park. With the top three athletes punching their tickets to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Jason consistently worked his way up through the pack to finish in 10th place with a time of 2:15:27, a great time considering the difficulty of this course. After the race, Jason was all smiles. “I’m happy. This was a big step forward for me. It gives me something to work with for the future.”
Ryan Hall ran away from the entire field to win in a Trials record time of 2:09:02. Dathan Ritzenhein finished 2nd in 2:11:07, with Brian Sell 33 seconds behind in 2:11:40. Those three athletes have secured the first spots on Team USA at the 2008 Olympic Games. However, Dathan Ritzenhein has said that his first choice will be the 10,000m if he qualifies for the US team next June in Eugene, Oregon. That would put 4th-place finishr Khalid Kannouchi on the starting line in Beijing.
Check back tomorrow for results from the main ING NYC Marathon where Elva Dryer and Stephen “Baba” Kiogora will be competing. Baba finished 2nd here last year and is hoping to improve (barely) on that position this year.
