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Thursday, May 24, 2007
Photo by Scott McCloskey
Wheeling's Ricky Moore, right, shown competing in the 2006 Ogden Newspapers 20K Classic Run/Walk, will be one of the runners to watch in Saturday's race.
Ricky Moore Hometown Proud for 20K Classic
by DON CLEGG Executive Sports Editor
Wheeling’s Ricky Moore is hometown proud.
Although he’s in the midst of training to qualify for this fall’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City, Moore has entered Saturday’s 31st annual Ogden Newspapers 20K Classic Run/Walk.
The former NCAA Division II All-American, who now runs professionally for Team Saucony, has been a Top 5 finisher each of the past two years in Wheeling but had been planning to skip this year’s race to focus on posting a qualifying time in a marathon.
But cooler heads prevailed at home.
“I’ve been flying to places like California and Texas to compete in these big races, but my wife (Bethany) brought up a very good point,” he said.
“‘How many times,’” she asked, “‘do you get a chance to run in a major race in front of all the family, friends and fans who have supported you all these years?’”
As a result, rather than battling airport security, a lengthy plane flight and a lonely hotel room, Moore won’t have to do much more than step out his front door on Saturday.
Thanks in large part to the spotlight provided by the Ogden Newspapers 20K Classic Run/Walk for the past three decades, Wheeling has developed an international reputation as a strong running community.
As a person who literally makes his living on the run — he’s also an assistant track and cross-country coach at Wheeling Jesuit University — that factored into Moore’s decision.
“Events like the Ogden race and the Debbie Green 5K are internationally known races that happen right here in Wheeling,” he said.
“The Ogden was the national 20K championship for a while, and the Debbie Green has been the 5K national championship the past couple of years.
“A lot of the international guys I run against know about the races. When they see I’m from Wheeling, they’ll ask me about them.”
Moore ran his first competitive marathon in early March, posting a Top 10 finish at the prestigious City of Los Angeles Marathon.
Moore was the second American finisher — ninth overall — out of more than 20,000 runners with a time of 2:31:51.
He was pleased with a Top 10 finish in his marathon debut but disappointed at falling short of the qualifying time needed to earn a spot in the Olympic Trials.
“We knew when the sun came up nobody was going to be able to post a time,” said Moore. “The average temperature in Los Angeles for early March is about 50 degrees, but it hit 70 before the race even started.”
Moore’s original plan if he missed qualifying in Los Angeles was to try again at the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn., on June 16, which would have taken him out of the Ogden race.
But his first marathon was a tremendous learning experience — and the learning didn’t stop after the race had ended.
“I was really fit going into Los Angeles, but I had never recovered from a marathon before,” said Moore. “I didn’t run at all for three weeks and even my first week back I only did about 30 miles. My body just didn’t feel right. My legs were tired all the time.
“I had to spend the whole month of April just building back the mileage and didn’t really start serious training until a couple of weeks ago,” he added.
That forced him to readjust his timetable for qualifying. Moore now plans to wait until late September or early October before taking another run at the marathon.
The fact that the change of plans opened the door for him to compete in his hometown race this weekend is a silver lining of sorts, but he’s not harboring any false aspirations.
“It will be a little strange for me this year because, being between marathons, my fitness level isn’t where it was the past couple of years,” said Moore. “It’s probably the first time I’ve run in the race that I didn’t think I had a good chance of winning.
“I can still be competitive but with where I’m at right now, if I run 1:06 to 1:07, that would be a pretty good day,” he added. “Still, no matter what happens, I’m really looking forward to it.”
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 Ogden Newspapers 20K Classic
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