Post by Nevada Hoya on Feb 20, 2004 16:23:14 GMT -5
I know this has no connection with Georgetown, except that I have raced against Al. Al walked in the 50K Olympic trials on Sunday in Chula Vista, near San Diego. He was leading the race from about 8K to 35K, but he was overtaken and faded badly, finishing 5th. Only Curt Clausen, who won the race with a time of 3 hours 58 minutes, was guaranteed a spot on the Olympic team. Al ended up 5th, 25 minutes behind the man he was beating by 1 minute and 51 seconds earlier in the race. The rest of the field did not break 4 hours, the time for the A standard for the Olympics. However, the walkers in places 2-5 had another chance as they all made the team for an international race in Europe in May. If Al broke 4 hours in that race and was ahead of at least two of the other four, he would make the team. But he was too depressed and apparently jumped off a bridge in San Diego, as his truck was found on the bridge and his body in the gorge below. I had raced Al in Pasadena (around the Rose Bowl) in January in a 10 mile race. He won the race (over two of the other top 5 finishers in the 50K race), and I was 9th. After the race, I even let him have my place in the massage line, as I thought I would do my duty to the Olympic movement. He was also supposed to come to Las Vegas and visit for a week after the 50K race. It is a sad story.