Alan Culpepper remembers the vast stretches of empty sidewalks, bitter cold, snow flurries and a nasty wind that marked his thrilling victory at the 2004 Olympic Trials marathon.
Culpepper’s memories are fond ones because the Lafayette resident won by 5 seconds over Meb Keflezighi, who would claim a silver medal at the Athens Olympics. But Culpepper would be the first to admit the 2004 trials were as lonely as they were chilly.
“No disrespect to Birmingham,” Culpepper said. “At some level, unfortunately, people didn’t come out because it was 38 degrees and they were freaking out down there in the South.”
This time around, things will be different.
Organizers of Saturday’s Olympic Trials in New York City expect up to 200,000 spectators in Central Park to watch one of the deepest fields assembled for the event. The New York City Marathon will be held Sunday, guaranteeing a flood of interested runners on hand in the city.
Similarly the women’s marathon trials will be held the day before the Boston Marathon, April 20.
“That’s what we want,” Culpepper said. “We want our biggest U.S. marathons (hosting trials). These are the biggest events on the globe in distance running, and we want them supporting what we’re doing. It’s incredible.”
The New York Road Runners and Boston Athletic Association bid on the trials to showcase and enhance the remarkable improvement in American marathoning since 2000, when only one man and one woman qualified for the Sydney Olympics. Four years later, Keflezighi and Deena Kastor were Olympic medalists.
“It will be difficult to make the team because of the field this year,” Keflezighi said, “but this is the dream — to have the U.S. as competitive as we are right now.”
Saturday’s race pits the old guard of Keflezighi (32), Culpepper (35) and Abdi Abdirahman (30) against exciting newcomers such as Ryan Hall (25) and Dathan Ritzenhein (24). The clash of generations is intriguing because experience is a major advantage in the marathon — until the older runner’s physical attributes erode beyond the point at which knowledge can compensate.
Another runner who bears watching is Brian Sell (28), who led the 2004 trials for much of the race.
“This is going to be the greatest weekend marathon running has ever seen,” New York Road Runners president Mary Wittenberg said.
Having the encouragement of a huge crowd can be invaluable for the runners, especially the last 10 kilometers of the 26.2-mile race. Ryan Shay had to fight through an injury in the 2004 trials that happened at mile 18.
“It just made the last eight miles, without having a crowd there, the longest eight miles I’ve ever run in my life,” Shay said. “Having a larger group of spectators at this trials in New York, it’s going to make for some really good performances. It’s going to allow those athletes who are hurting to really dig down, or those who are feeling good to push even more.”
Ritzenhein, like Culpepper a graduate of Colorado, made the 2004 Olympic team in the 10,000 meters and still considers himself a track runner. He has run one marathon, finishing New York last year in 2 hours, 14 minutes, one second.
He was on a 2:10 pace much of the race and a 2:12 pace with just more than a mile to go, but he hit the “wall” hard.
He expects Central Park to be rocking Saturday morning.
“Even if there’s only half the number they think is going to come out, that’s still a lot of people,” Ritzenhein said.
“How many football stadiums can seat over 100,000 people? Think of all those people watching a track event. It’s like the Olympics, really.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
Men’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials
Where: New York City
When: Saturday, 5:35 a.m. MDT
Qualifying: The top three men in the race will qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
Broadcast: The start at Rockefeller Center will be televised live on the “Today Show.” The complete race will be streamed on , and a half-hour highlights show will be aired Saturday at noon MDT.
Course: Runners head west two blocks on West 50th Street, south six blocks on Sixth Avenue, west one block on East 44th Street and north on Seventh Avenue into Central Park, where they will run five laps before finishing at Tavern on the Green.
Runners to watch: 2004 Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi, 2004 Olympic Trials champion Alan Culpepper, U.S. half-marathon record holder Ryan Hall, former CU runner Dathan Ritzenhein, former world record holder Khalid Khannouchi, Brian Sell and Adbi Abdirahman.
