Elijah Fa'afiu: NZ Herald sports reporter on Sam Ruthe's bid to set a running record

Kiwi running phenom Sam Ruthe is out to set a world record.

The 15-year-old wants to become the youngest person to ever run a sub-four minute mile.

He's having a crack at Mt Smart tonight, and Newstalk ZB sports reporter Elijah Fa'afiu is there. 

Elijah spoke to D'Arcy Waldegrave on Sportstalk.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
There's something really quite marvelous happening out well, we'd like
to think so happening out Mound Smart race starts at
eight point fifteen.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
What is it?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, I'll tell you what it is because I've got
a bloke who's standing there now, elijahfi who is one
of the sports news supporters for news Talk ZEBB. Greet things.
Welcome to Sports Thought, right, what's.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Up hey, great to hear from you, Darcy. Yeah, yeah,
it's a bit chilly down here at Mount Smart. Obviously.
Sam Ruth fifteen year old teenage middle distance running prology
looking to become the youngest ever to clock a sub
four minute mile, which would be amazing, amazing feet for
his age.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Is this possible in these conditions? Like, I've got no
idea about running four minutes. There's a bit of a
chill in the air, actually help.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
I'm not too sure. I mean, personally I would run
with I'd like a bit of chill behind me when
I run, But obviously I'm not Sam Ruth. But they've
pretty much cleared up the lanes, the inside lane. It
was full of puddles before because of the reign of
the last few hours, but the conditions are pretty much
cleared up. They've made sure there's no puddles, so it's
an easy lane for Sam to run. And he's going

(01:22):
to be paced by Sam Tano, who's obviously a two
time Olympian and I'm he willing to have another pacer
with him as well, so he's going to have some
support here. And in terms of the crowd support, I
mean we're looking at probably a couple of hundred here,
many within the athletics community. So Sam's definitely going to
be back for his record breaking attempt.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
So it's not a standalone race. This is actually purely
designed to beat that record. That's it, right, or.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
As far as I understand, Yeah, it's an elite men's race.
There is an elite woman's race. So it's not just
Sam by himself the other athletes out here on the
track who were.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
But aimed at him, isn't it. That's the whole idea.
This is what they're trying to do, is they want
to propel this guy to a crazy record.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yet pretty much yeah, I mean this is all about
Sam Ruth. I think pretty much everyone here at Mount
Smart and everyone on the live streamers in waiting to
watch Sam Ruth in person achieved this feat and it
would be amazing to if he was able to achieve that.
So yeah, I think this is all about Sam and
hopefully he can achieve that marker tonight.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, and his placement one of his pace citters is
as you said, Sam Tanner and they drew. They tied
had the fifteen hundred meter aw Zealand champ for men's
earlier in the and that was a stunning race if
you even get to see it. Finally, Elijah, fire for
you and thanks very much for your time. As always,
chances are what's the noise in the crab be like?

(02:45):
What have they been saying?

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Well, the rains already had an impact because the sound
system has gone down, So that's it's off to a
torrid start there. But in terms of the crowd, I
expected things to ramp up once the action gets underway.
As I mentioned before, is probably about We're looking about
a couple of hundred who were here, many within the
athletics community. It's quite a tight lookmmunity, So you do
expect a huge row for saying when he does get underway,

(03:10):
and they'll be ready to power them home for the
final stretch as well.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Well. Get a monks, Elijah fee Thanks very much for
joining us in the freezing driving rain.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Of For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks.
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