Dathan Ritzenhein Wins 10k Campaccio in Italy

Published by MLive.com on January 6, 2015

Dathan Ritzenhein started his year off with a successful reunion with an old friend - the cross country course.

The three-time Olympian, who had not run a cross country race in nearly two years, won the 10K Campaccio in Italy on Tuesday, Jan. 6, in 29 minutes, 8 seconds.

"It's nice to get back into the winner's circle," Ritzenhein said in a phone interview. "I hadn't done a whole lot of work going into it, and I wasn't in the best of shape, so I wanted to control the race a little bit and keep the pace not too aggressive."

Ritzenhein, who has focused on the marathon but has a deep history of success in cross country (three-time USA champion in 2005, 2008 and 2010), had about eight weeks of healthy training following an ankle injury that sidelined plans for a marathon in the fall.