|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHONOctober 31, 2008German SilvaAllan SteinfeldNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK MARY WITTENBERG: There have been millions of memories over 50 years of New York Roadrunners history. We narrowed the list to 100 earlier this year. We asked 15 esteemed journalists, including Frank Litsky, to narrow the field for us. We asked them to narrow the field of memories to 15. We then went to the fans, and we conducted a fan poll to determine the top five moments in New York Roadrunner history. We've unveiled one a day since Monday. Fifth place was a tie; the 1976 first-ever five borough marathon and Grete Waitz' ninth victory here in New York; the fourth moment, Paul Tergat and Hendrik Ramaala in their race to the tape; the third moment, Rod Dixon and that amazing finish with Jeff Smith sprawled behind him; the second moment, our most moving moment, Fred Lebow and Grete Waitz as they crossed the finish line together in 1992 when Fred conquered the marathon despite fighting brain cancer. Our first moment, as the fans voted, put this in context: It was 1994, a visionary leader, Fred Lebow, not only New York City high profile figure but a world leader in running and beyond, had just passed away three weeks before. It was Allan Steinfeld's first race as race director. He had just lost his best friend and his longtime partner in staging this race. Let's remember. (Video shown.) MARY WITTENBERG: I'm going to go to you first, Allan, because as a race director my heart beats crazily when I watch that. What were you thinking? ALLAN STEINFELD: First I need to put it in context. Mary mentioned that Fred had passed away. We had been planning for over a year our 25th anniversary of the New York City Marathon in 1994, and for the occasion, this was the jacket that we had. I just wanted to wear it to bring back memories. So with his not being there, I mean, I was crying most of the time before the race and after the race, having nothing to do with the race, just because Fred wasn't there. But what happened, I was in the lead vehicle, drove into the finish, as Mary does now, get there before the runners come in, and then wait and look at the TV screen to see what's happening because you have no idea what's going on. I'm watching it, Gérman is there, makes a lot of sense. All of a sudden, where is he? Turns off the wrong way. And as soon as he did that, I looked up at the sky because I remember it all too well, and I said, "Why me, Fred?" And then I started computing. As you all know, I do a lot of computing, and what the distance was that he might have gone back and forth and what if he doesn't win and he's behind by a certain amount. And I decided that I would take first prize and second prize, put them together and split them, give them both trophies, and I was thinking in my head, can I get Mercedes to give us another car. Then the race progressed, and you saw it, and as soon as Gérman passed Benjamin, I said, "Thank you, Fred." And when the race was over, I greeted Gérman, and people forget that also that year, we had a first, which is very, very special, the first Kenyan woman to win a major marathon, Tegla Loroupe, and then both these folks came back to win next year. It's one of those moments you just never forget in your life. As I said, I cried through it because Fred should have been there to share it. (Applause.) MARY WITTENBERG: Thank you, Allan. Gérman, you were going to be famous anyway, but you became extra famous with that moment. For that race to have been 1994, 14 years ago, and for it to have won our most significant memory and to have been a moment that fans voted on says an awful lot about that being a moment that sticks in people's heads and you being an athlete that people will forever remember. Take us back to the day. What do you remember of it? GÉRMAN SILVA: Well, I remember many, many things, but I'm happy I saved you a second car (laughter). No, I still remember that day, the press conference. This is so familiar, 1994, a couple of days before the marathon, that I said, with all respect to all of you, all of the runners, all the runners who I was competing with, I said, "I'm going to win on Sunday." And what a scary moment when I suddenly at the half mile before the finish just looked up and all the people who -- all the fans which were standing on the road just disappeared, and I just looked left, and Benjamin has also disappeared (laughter). So I said, oh, there's something wrong, and what a stupid mistake I made. Thanks to that stupid mistake I made, I'm here back again (laughter), so that's the reason I'm very happy and really, really -- what can I say. I have been here since that year for the marathon, sometimes running, sometimes pacing, sometimes spending time with the athletes I coach and spending now time with runners I coach. Some of them come from San Luis Potosi and are here at this moment now. So that makes me so happy. Patience for running just keeps on there, and I just want to thank Fred. I never met him, but such, such a great impact up until now and forever. Allan, my friend, sorry for giving you that hard time (laughter). And Mary, really, congratulations for what you have made in the industry of running, growing not only everything that's happened around, but you do things with patience. It keeps the fruits that we now have here. So thank you very much, and good luck to everyone on Sunday, the runners and everybody who's running. Thank you. RICHARD FINN: We're going to take a couple questions before we have one more special presentation for Allan. Any questions at all to Gérman or Allan on their memories? Q. Gérman, I'm wondering, the final year when you were in the lead and you passed that same spot where you had taken the wrong turn, what were your thoughts at that point? GÉRMAN SILVA: You mean when I passed Benjamin? Q. No, when you came back in 1995 and you passed that same spot, what were you thinking? GÉRMAN SILVA: That wasn't a problem. It was very well protected (laughter). I remember, I was having a hard time with Paul Evans. I was having a hard time trying to get rid of him in the last mile, so I really don't -- I only remember when I passed the finish line that I was thinking, oh, it would be fun to try to go run there again. But I remember I was having a hard time. Q. Because of the drama you brought to the race that year and because of this award now, are you glad it happened? Are you pleased that that moment occurred? Or do you wish it had all just passed by straightforwardly? GÉRMAN SILVA: Well, I always had been thinking that that mistake, well, came to make me more -- not more famous, but give something extra to the meaning of just winning, and really for me I'm so happy and impressed that that was chosen as the best moment in the last 50 years. But for me, honestly, there are hundreds and thousands of great moments. It's just not mine in the best. I think all of them are the best, and there's so many great moments that we don't see with people that are running for three, four, five hours, whatever. But I just think really honestly, it doesn't matter the time you make, it doesn't matter the place. The level of satisfaction you get by finishing, just crossing the finish line, gives you extra forever. Q. This is a question for Allan. Allan, what is your favorite New York City Marathon moment? ALLAN STEINFELD: Well, my favorite moment, because I was involved in the planning of it, is obviously the '92 race with Fred and Grete. You probably don't know the history, but in June he got a clear MRI and he went out for a run, and that was a sign of him being alive and coming back. And his one dream, because he had never run the five-borough marathon, he had only run inside the park, was to do that. I knew he would do it because he was headstrong to begin with. He would crawl to the finish. Everyone else was worried about him, but I wasn't. One thing Grete forgot to mention yesterday about the moment, in the middle of the race -- I guess it wasn't the middle but I look at it as the middle, the 18-mile mark, Fred stopped, bent over, grabbed his leg and started complaining. Everyone around him was like, oh, my God, what's happening. And he got up and said, "Gotcha," and he went on running. That was very quintessential for Fred, and that certainly was my most memorable moment, with all do respect to my friend Gérman. MARY WITTENBERG: Allan, as we celebrate 50 years of New York Roadrunners and we celebrate the 39th running of the marathon, we also have something special for you, some words of appreciation from many of your friends and colleagues throughout the industry. (Applause.) MARY WITTENBERG: Gérman, a special thank you to you. Gérman also spends a lot of time with us on our kids' programs, so we appreciate every time you do that. What did you just run the Chicago Marathon in last week? GÉRMAN SILVA: I did 2:36. I'm preparing for an Ironman in November. I'm trying to convince runners that doing something extra than just running is good for their performance, too. Q. Is that Hawaii? GÉRMAN SILVA: No, it's in Tempe, Arizona, in November. MARY WITTENBERG: I'm going to steal this back to read the cover, which is a quote from Fred. "Allan is on top of everything, in a class by himself, the preeminent technical genius of road racing." That's from Fred. And what I added, when I think of Allan and do word association, I think bridge, which of course there are bridges that define this race, and like the Verrazano-Narrows, Allan is a key bridge in the history of New York Roadrunners. He's served as resilient self-supporting link from the early days of Fred Lebow to the present. All the while, the sport has grown tremendously and changed countless lives. Allan has played a defining and critical role in running. Personally I will always appreciate the opportunities Allan gave me and our current team to fly, and I will forever cherish my days at your side." (Applause.) End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|