Ritzenhein confident in half-marathon

Jul 26, 2008 - 4:29 PM By Simon Lewis PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Olympic marathoner Dathan Ritzenhein is confident Sunday's New York City Half-Marathon will serve as the perfect stepping stone to a successful run in Beijing next month.

Ritzenhein returns to the place where he booked his ticket to the Beijing Games last November with a runner-up finish behind Ryan Hall at the U.S. Olympic Men's Marathon Team Trial.

Sunday's race will feature a single loop around Central Park similar to the five circuits he came through in November before a stacked field also containing former New York City Marathon winner Hendrick Ramaala and previous Berlin, Chicago and London Marathon victor Felix Limo heads south through Times Square to the finish at Manahttan's Battery Park.

The women's race also will feature some big guns headed by 2008 Olympic marathoners Catherine Ndereba of Kenya, Benita Johnson of Australia and Mada?? P??rez of Mexico.

"I'm so excited to be here," Ritzenhein said. "I feel really great about this weekend.

"I think it's going to be an incredible event, and the Road Runners club here has put together an awesome field that I think is going to really test me and I think that this timing for me coming into Beijing is perfect."

Following a series of niggling foot problems at the start of 2008 that forced him to pull out of both the Central Park Challenge 8K and Healthy Kidney 10K road races in New York, Ritzenhein is now full of confidence and feeling in great shape having emerged unscathed from a strong run in the men's 10,000m at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in his hometown of Eugene, Oregon, earlier this month.

"Everything that I've done lately has made me feel more confident by the day for this event and for Beijing," he said.

"I was unfortunately not able to come here a couple of times when I planned to in the spring. I'm so excited to be back here and ready to give it another shot in New York City again."

Ritzenhein, 25, faces a stiff challenge if he is to win on Sunday. Aside from the prospect of racing fast marathoners such as Kenya's Limo and South African Ramaala, there is the threat posed by half-marathon specialist Patrick Makau.

The 23-year-old Kenyan won the Healthy Kidney 10K that Ritzenhein missed, and has also won all four major half-marathons he has entered so far this year.