American miler Alan Webb has committed to the 12-kilometer distance at the USA Cross Country Championships on Feb.19 at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. In a telephone interview Thursday as he was departing Reston for New York to preview the course, Webb indicated his decision to run the 12K instead of the 4K is in line with his plans to race longer distances.
“I am thinking of moving up to the 5,000 meters on the track,” said Webb, 23.
That is exactly what Hicham El Guerrouj did. The Moroccan won the 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters in the 2004 Olympics. No one had pulled off that feat since Paavo Nurmi in 1924. El Guerrouj owns world records in the 1,500 meters, the mile and the 2,000 meters.
The 7.45-mile distance is much longer than Webb usually races, and the competition on the cross country trails certainly will be more experienced at that distance.
“Especially with the 12K, it’s a huge challenge,” Webb said. “It prepares you well for track season. It sort of breaks things up for me mentally.”
The timing is good because this is a year without a world championships or Summer Olympics.
Cross country has been a large component of Webb’s training program since high school. As a South Lakes senior in 2000, Webb first faced Dathan Ritzenhein at the Foot Locker Championships in Florida in a classic duel between the mile star and the 5,000-meter star. Webb ended up second, 20 seconds behind Ritzenhein.
The next year, Webb won the Big Ten title and was 11th at the NCAA meet as a freshman at Michigan. He returned to cross country running in 2003, winning the USA club championships. In the 2004 USA championships, he placed eighth in the 4K race and fourth in the 12K the next day.
Last year, Webb finished sixth in the 4K, qualifying him to represent the United States at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, which he decided to miss. Meanwhile, Ritzenhein took the 12K race and is coming back this year to defend.
“Is this a rivalry between you and Dathan?” Mary Wittenberg, USA championships race director and New York Road Runners president and chief executive officer, asked Webb.
“I’ve beaten Dathan on the track,” Webb replied. “Dathan’s an incredible competitor, but we have taken different paths. Dathan’s had my number on the cross country course since we first started competing against each other. When you get beaten every time, can you call that a rivalry? At nationals, he’s just any runner in the race to me.”
To prepare for the race, Webb flew to Spain to compete in his first two international cross country competitions, placing fourth in the Cross Ciudad de Haro 12.4K and fifth in the Cross Ciudad de Valladolid 10.75K.
“I ran two different races in two different cities,” said Webb, America’s second-ranked miler. “Both were 10K-plus, not sure how long they were but long enough for me.”
Webb said he has competed at hilly Van Cortlandt Park, the Bronx park that is New York’s third-largest, only twice — in his sophomore and junior years at South Lakes.
A top showing there in two weeks again will qualify Webb for the IAAF meet, this time in Fukuoka, Japan, on April 1-2.
“The worlds is a possibility,” he said. “I’ll make that decision when I get to that point.”
More recruiting — The Army 10-Miler will accept 24,000 entries this year for its 22nd running, officials of the Oct.8 race announced last week. The race accepted 20,000 entries last year.
Also, officials are introducing the increasingly popular wave start, hoping to decrease the amount of time it takes to cross the start line, alleviate congestion and potentially enhance runner times. Two waves of approximately 12,000 runners will go off at separate times.
Sweetheart deal — Annapolis Striders will hold their annual Valentine’s Day 5K on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Kinder Farm Park in Millersville, Md. For Annapolis Striders members, this is the first of eight races in the 2006 club championship series. For more information, call 410/268-1165 or visit annapolisstriders.org.
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