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Richmond Continues To Advance

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By BILL WARD, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 10, 2008

TAMPA - When you are living in a mobile home and working odd jobs to get through college, a couple of thousand dollars can mean a lot. And for 22-year-old Austin Richmond, winning the local-prize purse at Saturday's Publix Super Markets Gasparilla Distance Classic could help him achieve his dream of one day running the marathon at the Olympics.

"I know that sounds very ambitious," said Richmond, a native of Clewiston. "I'm just trying to take it one step at a time, win some money in road races, move out of Florida, and train at altitude and make it big."

Considering how far he has come in five years, it is not out of the question that Richmond could soon earn a decent living road racing and possibly turn up at the Olympics. After all, in high school, he was a back-of-the-pack runner at the state cross country meet, finishing 75th and barely cracking 18 minutes for five kilometers.

"Basically, I stunk," Richmond says with a laugh.

Saturday, Richmond, a senior at Webber International University in Polk County, clicked through Gasparilla's 15-kilometer race in an average of 5 minutes, 7 seconds per mile and covered the course in 47:50. That was good for second place and earned him the first-place purse of $2,000 for being the top area finisher. Richmond was also last year's top local runner at Gasparilla, but he turned down the money because he didn't want to lose his college eligibility.

Richmond and the chase pack were never close to eventual winner Joseph Sitienei of Kenya, who broke away at the opening horn and won comfortably in 46:45. But Richmond has shown he needs just a little more time to develop.

Four years ago, Richmond was nowhere close to runners like Rolf Steier of Berkeley Prep, an eight-time prep state champion in cross country and track and an all-American at Stanford University. Saturday, Richmond ran stride-for-stride with Steier and managed to drop him with about three miles to go. Steier, who hopes to earn a time in the 1,500-meter run to qualify for this year's Olympic trials, finished third overall and second local ($1,500) in 48:19. Lakeland's Tyrone Bell, an all-state performer in track and cross country while at Ridgeview High, was the third local ($750) and fourth overall in 49:13.

"I remember all those guys," Richmond said when asked about Steier and Bell. "They didn't know anything about me. They were kicking my butt bad."

Seeing runners like Steier and Bell inspired Richmond to "work my tail off" and "eat, sleep and breathe running." Essentially, that's all he's done for the past four years. Last November, it paid off in a sixth-place finish at the NAIA national cross country championships. Saturday, he pulled away from Steier near the six-mile mark and held on.

Since this 15k was the longest race of his life, Steier said he wasn't disappointed with Saturday's result, but he was unhappy with his time.

"I was hoping to go a lot faster, but I'm still glad I ran the race," Steier said. "It was hard the last couple of miles, but I think I could do a lot better."

Overall winner Sitienei, one of the top finishers at last year's Gasparilla Marathon, didn't win any prize money Saturday. But he left Tampa knowing he is on track with his training goal of running next year's Boston Marathon.

"Things are going well," Sitienei said. "This and other results are pointing things in the right direction."

At Boston last year, Sitienei was a paid pacemaker through 18 miles. There, he was part of the Spira Footwear team that created controversy because of the banned springs in the soles of the shoes. Sitienei says he was on pace to run a 2:10 marathon before dropping out. Saturday, he won with an average of 5 minutes per mile.

Sitienei's credentials already include a 43:38 15k, 1:01 half marathon in Paris, a 2:15 marathon in Germany and a fifth-place in the 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

Reporter Bill Ward can be reached at (813) 259-7456 or wward@tampatrib.com.

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