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The 16-year-old, who holds almost every national record for distances between 800–5000m in under-16s through to U20s, was a surprise starter in the Colgate Games on Saturday morning, lining up to guide visually impaired athlete Tamahau Hicks in his 1500m race. [...]
[Sam Ruthe] had already been planning to attend the event, where athletes between 7–14 years compete, to help with medal presentations and meet some of the athletes.
But when Hicks’ original guide had to pull out due to illness, Athletics Tauranga secretary Andrea Neal reached out to see if Ruthe was available.
NZ Herald
About 30 minutes before the race, they were told the guide would be Ruthe – a record-smashing runner who on January 4 became the fastest 16-year-old to ever run the 1000m distance.
“He was really stoked,” [Tamahau Hick’s mother, Emily Kay] told Stuff of Tamahau’s reaction. “It definitely made the weekend for him.”
Kay said running on a marked track was “really difficult” for her son.
“He has to really concentrate on staying in his lane, which makes it quite taxing when you’re trying to run.
“Tamahau said he just copied Sam. He said, ‘I copied his arms, I copied his legs, I copied his pace’,” Kay said.
His efforts paid off when he set a personal best of 5 minutes and 57 seconds, shaving 40 seconds off his previous best.
“Tamahau told [Ruthe] that he wanted to get around in six minutes. So Sam watched the time to make sure that’s what they did.
“Sam pretty much said to him ‘we’re gonna not go too fast for the first two and a half laps, and in the last lap, we’re just gonna gun it’,” Kay said.
Tamahau took up running two years ago after he suffered a traumatic brain injury, impacting his vision, spatial awareness and coordination. [...]
Kay said Saturday was her son’s personal highlight in his running career so far, in part thanks to Ruthe’s support.
Stuff
