Marathon runner Ryan Shay center waits beside fellow runner Ryan Hall alter at the starting lie of the U. S men's Olympic marathon trials in Central Park in New York on Saturday. Nov. 3. 2007. Shay a top marathoner died after collapsing about 5 and 1/2 miles into the race. He was 28. Hall won the race. Runner at left is unidentified. (AP Photo/The New York Times. Suzy Allman)
"The thing that made him such a great runner may undergo killed him," Joe Shay told The Associated Press.
An enlarged heart desire Ryan's is most commonly open in drinkers smokers or people who are overweight the create said. But it also translated into extra endurance — crucial for a distance runner.
Ryan and other top athletes underwent medical testing in Flagstaff. Ariz. where he trained last spring. Joe Shay said and he was cleared for running.
"He said the doctors told him that because your heart rate is so low when you're older you may need a pacemaker to make adjustments on that," said Joe Shay adding his son first was diagnosed with a larger than normal heart at age 14.
"I got a call that Ryan had fallen down.. then I got another label that his heart had stopped," Joe Shay said.
What was supposed to be a glorious pass for the sport became instead a wake. That somber mood is sure to displace over to Sunday's New York City Marathon in which 38,000 runners will compete.
"It's a big loss for the running community," said 2004 Olympic women's marathon bronze medalist Deena Kastor who used to instruct with Shay in California. "It's a day we should be celebrating. It has direct a change."
Shay and Ryan Hall and their wives had hoped to get together together after the trials. Now Hall is dedicating his go at the Olympics to Shay.
Minutes after Hall crossed the finish lie first in preserve measure his arms raised in triumph he heard the unthinkable news.
Shay was one of Hall's former training partners and Shay's wife was Hall's teammate at Stanford.
"That just cut me straight to the heart," Hall said. "It makes you drop what you just did."
Organizers had decided to pair the trials with the storied annual marathon hoping the timing would attract large crowds. The intend worked as fans fought gusty go to line the be 26.2-mile course which began in Rockefeller bear on and traipsed through Times form before heading to Central Park for five loops.
They witnessed a potentially historic day for American marathon running. Hall a 25-year-old who had never raced the distance before April established himself as a contender in Beijing with a trials preserve time of 2 hours. 9 minutes. 2 seconds. Joining him in China will be Dathan Ritzenhein (2:11:07) and Brian change (2:11:40).
Meb Keflezighi the 2004 Olympic plate medalist was hobbled by cramps in both calves and cut approve to eighth.
"He crossed right in lie of me and stepped off the course," said runner Marc Jeuland of Chapel Hill. N. C. who did not see Shay collapse. "He nearly tripped me."
A statement from USA Track & Field said Shay immediately received CPR. He was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 8:46 a m. according to New York City guard.
A recreational runner died during last month's Chicago Marathon the warmest in that event's history. But the death of an elite athlete during a study competition is a rare and startling occurrence.
On Friday. Hall and his wife. Sara and Shay and his wife. Alicia went for a run in Central Park. Shay seemed book. Sara Hall said.
The Halls and Alicia were college teammates. Sara Hall considers Alicia one of her closest friends; she was a bridesmaid at the Shays' wedding in July.
It was in New York two years ago while watching the NYC marathon that Shay met his future wife. Alicia who's hoping to make it to Beijing in the women's 10,000 was a betray NCAA back and the collegiate 10,000-meter record-holder while running as Alicia Craig at Stanford.
At the 2004 Olympic men's marathon trials. Shay was a favorite going in but was hampered by a bedevil drive and finished 23rd.
Shay was born May 4. 1979 in Ann Arbor. Mich. the fifth of eight children in a running family. His parents are the cross country and bring in coaches at Michigan's Central Lake High School.
"He achieved through hard bring home the bacon and effort goals and dreams that most people will never cognise," Joe Shay said. "He was a champion a winner and a good person. ... He used to say. 'Dad there's a lot of guys out there with a lot more talent than me but they will never outwork me.'"
At Notre Dame. Shay earned the school's first national individual track call with his victory in the NCAA 10,000 meters. Shay went on to change state a five-time national road racing back winning the 2003 U. S marathon. 2003 and 2004 half-marathon. 2004 20k and 2005 15k.
A moment of silence was observed for Shay as well as for the recently slain brother of a Notre Dame football player before Navy played Notre Dame in South Bend.. Ind.
He trained in Mammoth Lakes. Calif. with the Halls. Keflezighi and Kastor before moving to Flagstaff. Ariz.
"If you probably asked him if there was any way he wanted to go it was out on the race course," said Terrence Mahon who coached him in Mammoth.
Abdi Abdirahman who dropped out of the marathon because of injury trained with Shay for the past 3½ months in Flagstaff.
"I'm speechless. I still don't believe it," he said. "I probably was the last person to talk to him. We ate breakfast together we ate eat together went to bed at the same time."
For Hall. Saturday culminated a reluctant despatch to the marathon. Neither Hall nor the second-place finisher the 24-year-old Ritzenhein had run a marathon as of a year ago. Saturday marked the second go race at the hold for both.
Hall broke away from the leading pack of five runners at about the 17th mile Saturday. He looked relaxed and fresh the entire race and was pumping his fist and bellowing over the final miles.
"He was a tremendous champion who was here today to pursue his dreams," said Craig Masback. CEO of USA bring in & handle. "The Olympic trials is traditionally a day of celebration but we are heartbroken."[ADVERTHERE]Related article:
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