NEW YORK -- Five-time U.S. distance running champion Ryan Shay collapsed and died during the men's U.S. Olympic marathon trials Saturday, leaving race winner Ryan Hall mourning the loss of a friend and former training partner whose wedding Hall had attended four months ago.
"I can't think about the race right now," Hall said. "I've trained with him, and he has inspired me. I will dedicate my race in Beijing [the 2008 Olympics] to him and Alicia [his wife] and his family."
Shay, 28, collapsed in Central Park less than 30 minutes into the race, at the 5.5-mile point, New York Road Runners President Mary Wittenberg said. He was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan and pronounced dead on arrival about 45 minutes later at 8:46 a.m. EDT.
Shay is believed to be the first elite-level U.S. runner to die in a race.
No cause of death was immediately released.
Joe Shay, Ryan's father, told the Associated Press that his son was first diagnosed with a larger than normal heart at age 14. He also said his son was cleared for running this spring by doctors but was told he might need a pacemaker when he was older.
And years ago, after Ryan was in a car accident as a 16-year-old, Joe Shay said doctors re-evaluated Ryan's heart and determined it had gotten even larger. Each time, he said, they believed it was because Ryan was a runner.
"But he never complained about it," Joe Shay said.
Hall won the race in a trials-record time of 2 hours 9 minutes 2 seconds, more than two minutes ahead of Dathan Ritzenhein of Eugene, Ore. Brian Sell of Rochester Hills, Mich., was third.
"I've been dreaming about this moment for 10 years," Hall said. "As great as this moment is, my heart and my thoughts are with Ryan Shay."
Said Ritzenhein: "Any of us would give up our spot on the Olympic team to have Ryan back."
According to people who saw Shay collapse, several spectators attended to him, administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation, before an emergency medical services team arrived.
Shay, whose marathon personal best was 2:14:9, was considered a long shot to earn one of the three places on the Olympic team.
He was among the favorites going into the 2004 Olympic marathon trial but wound up 23rd after struggling with a hamstring injury.
Shay's wife, the former Alicia Craig, was a Stanford teammate of Hall and his wife, Sara, who was a bridesmaid in the Shays' wedding July 7 in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
