Elburn, Illinois is proud as native becomes first American to win LA Marathon since 1994
It has been decades since an American won the Los Angeles Marathon
By Shardaa Gray
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ELBURN, Illinois (WBBM) — It has been decades since an American won the Los Angeles Marathon, but an Elburn, Illinois native broke that record this past weekend.
Matt Richtman’s parents were cheering him on, and a former coach was rooting for him too.
Richtman, 25, made history Sunday by becoming the first American to win the LA Marathon since 1994, finishing with an impressive time of 2:07:56. He topped the second-largest field in race history.
His mother, Karen Richtman, was beyond proud that her son.
“That was mind-boggling. I had no clue,” said Karen Richtman. “We were just there for the marathon. We were just there to cheer on our son.”
Richtman, a Montana State University alumnus, achieved his victory in just his second marathon — though cross-country is a family sport.
“I didn’t really know for sure where I was at relatively in the competition until we make a U-turn with maybe three, maybe a little bit more than three miles to go,” said Matt Richtman.
Matt Richtman’s brother and sister are runners.
“He did it too, and found out he had fun and did well,” said Karen Richtman.
Matt Richtman ran cross-country at Kaneland High School.
“As an athlete here at Kaneland, I mean, he was the best competitor we’ve ever seen,” said Kaneland High School track and field coach Andy Drendel.
Richtman graduated from high school in 2017. Drendel, his old coach, watched him compete on Sunday.
Drendel said he knew Richtman would win upon making a move at mile 13.
“The commentator on the stream was saying, ‘Oh, Matt might be fading a little bit.’ I’m going: ‘I’ve seen him do this move 50 times. He’s going to win it,'” Drendel said, “and I don’t think I blinked for the last hour of the race.”
Richtman’s dad said his son he trained two hours a day for six months back in Elburn, running over 100 miles a week in any weather condition.
“We can’t believe it,” said Tom Richtman. “Just unbelievable.”
Outside of track, Richtman’s coach and parents said he is the most humble person you’ll ever meet.
“He doesn’t want to flaunt what he did, so he doesn’t even wear his medal. The reporters are like, ‘Matt, where’s your medal?’ and he pulls it out of his pocket and he’s like, ‘It’s right here,'” said Karen Richtman.
In his downtime, Matt Richtman is a volunteer cross-country coach.
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