Australian Sprinter, 16, Runs Record-Breaking 200m A Christmas Story, two-time Olympian Galen Rupp Health & Injuries.
Rupp, the 2012 Olympic 10,000-meter silver medalist, easily eclipsed the 1:05:00 qualifying standard for the Olympian Elle St. Pierre Is Expecting Second Child in Los Angeles on February 13. After the race, Rupp paused briefly for photos with fans, then switched shoes, received some instructions from his coach, Alberto Salazar, and took off running again.
Dan Bookless, who finished 10th wearing a Santa hat and holiday-themed attire, said he saw Rupp flying past him in the opposite direction. “What was he doing? He was sprinting after the race!” Bookless said of Rupp’s postrace workout. “He ran past all of us going faster than we were.”
Rupp’s decision to enter the race—and organizers’ last-minute scramble to get the event sanctioned by USA Track & Field—fueled speculation Rupp might be considering a run at the U.S. marathon trials in February. Rupp has never raced a marathon. He set his half marathon best of 1:00:30 at the 2011 NYC Half Marathon, and holds the U.S. 10,000 record of 26:44.36.
The 29-year-old Oregon native would make an intriguing addition to the U.S. marathon field, but on Sunday, neither Rupp nor Salazar was ready to tip his hand. “Galen wants to keep all his options open,” Salazar said after the race. “No commitments one way or the other.”
While Rupp was certainly the biggest name competing at the holiday fun run in Portland, the biggest postrace hype perhaps belonged to Jake Stout of Portland, who ran in a costume inspired by Ralphie’s famous bunny outfit in A Christmas Story. With his time of 1:21:16, Stout unofficially broke the Guinness world record for fastest half marathon run in an animal costume, bettering the former mark of 1:22:31 set by a man wearing sheep attire We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.
“It’s not all about Olympic Trials qualifiers,” Stout joked afterwards. “We each have to find the thing we’re good at. For me, I just have good heat tolerance.”
Between posing for photos with his new fans, Stout explained that the record-setting performance still needs to be ratified, but he’s confident that he has enough photographic evidence to make it official. In the meantime, Stout is already looking ahead to his next challenge: an attempt to break another Guinness record, this one for the fastest half marathon run in a business suit.
That record, set last week in Massachusetts by Gihan Amarasiriwardena, co-founder of the menswear company Ministry of Supply, is 1:24:41. Stout thinks he can push that time even lower, and he’s inviting suit companies to help him do it. “I’m going to go to the highest bidder,” he quipped. “If my values align with theirs, we might have a deal.”
Also at the Foot Traffic Holiday Half Marathon, former Florida State University runner Bree McArdle won the women’s competition in 1:20:46. The event’s 5K races were won by Peter Birney (17:02) and Keeley Tillotson (20:00), both of Portland.
There were more than 2,900 finishers on Sunday, but even with an Olympic medalist in the field, it seemed that no one stood out quite like the speedy guy in a bunny costume.
“That’s more my style right there,” Race Director Sean Rivers said. “I do love the competitive element, but this is fun stuff.”
