Record run for Galen
30th October 2020 – Galen Rupp (USA) dusted off his racing shoes to put in another record-breaking performance at the Row River Half Marathon in Oregon.
Due to the world pandemic, racing opportunities have been hard to come by for Galen and so 8 months after his last race where he won the US Olympic Marathon trial, the prospect of running this event was too good to turn down.
With pace making duties undertaken by Australia’s Patrick Tiernan, Galen and Japan’s Suguru Osako set off with fast times in mind. Galen passed 15km in 42:47 and then 10 miles in 45:54, both of which (pending ratification) will be new US records. From here he ran through 20k in 57:17 before crossing the finish line in a clear first place with a time of 60:23, the second fastest half marathon of his career to date.
Post-race Galen was delighted that he was able to get out and have something to show for the hard training he has been putting in. “This was an unbelievable thing that it was able to come together. I had a blast out there”. Coach Mike Smith who flew in to see Galen run said “It was fantastic to get a hard effort in. Those are few and far between. We’ve been pushing training as far as we can, but man, we needed to replicate competition somehow, so this was a great option”.
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