OFF-AIR 🔴 Ben Ruthe Full Interview

0:00This is a podcast from Rover Oh, no running eggs into the world Here's the podcast Welcome to the morning rumbles not for next podcast Here he comes Sam Ruth Oh my word Can you believe that the 16 year old just went crazy with 100 to go? Sam Ruth, 342 on the clock. Here he comes Bring it home, Sam Ruth Sub 350 can you believe it? 348 0.8 Sam Ruth Wow It was too much for that commentator. He was losing his voice Why not too Sam Ruth? We got his dad being Ruth Get him out Who actually went to school? Ben morning you went to school with Bryce for those i don't know if you know this thing

1:01I might be the other way around I don't know if I went to school I'm dying to see his name etched on a wall somewhere maybe Yeah well so the funny welcome to the show mate We're gonna get into the unreal success of obviously your boy Sam who is lighting up the world at the moment With his time is a 16 year old But just back two school days yes I believe we were at the same school same time once in college back in the day But the thing was last year I went to the all black test against the box and randomly sitting in front of me was my old mate Ben Harding from school and We were having a chat and then in front of me was another cold boy Cole Forrester and And we were all in the same row which was random and so we started talking about Cole and then Ben Harding said to me goes bro have you heard about Ben Ruth's kid And so telling me about your boy Sam and so I was like nah that's unreal but of course I remember you being a weapon at school with running And then lo and behold all of a sudden in the last few months for the greater public It's just been all about your boy so it all made sense so man what's it been like in the front row front seat

2:06You as dad watching how good your son's going Oh man yeah I mean there are two parts really like one of it is just I as a fan I just like I love the sport and just watching what's happening It's hard to believe because it's some of the greatest that I've ever seen But it's just my little boy and as a dad it's just you just want to sort of make sure that he's a good human And that you look after him and nurture him well and he seems to be sort of coping coping quite well with it But it's just the conflict between those two things but it's pretty it's pretty cool to witness some of the things he's doing He's doing a session right now actually on the state of the art $20 million disability in North Carolina as we're talking And there are pace lights and it's a bank to indoor track it's 200 metres and he's just ripping around following the pace lights As we're talking and I mean it's crazy to watch Just wild I mean apart from having good genes he must be incredibly driven to term and what are you putting his success down to?

3:06Yeah I think there is some genetic methods maybe like on the weakest one on the weak link But has now won a common game's gold as a game father broke the world record for debut marathon And my wife Jess went to the world across countries and won a few national titles and things Sorry who won the gold at the commonwealth games? Here's Nana actually which was called Nana so she won the gold But she had to run she's a Kiwi and she had to run for Scotland because she had to go to England The Empire Games What race was that? She ran the 800 metres Roger meme is a Kiwi He's so old then It's amazing He's in the blood Wow So what time did she actually carry on? I was just going to say she made the Munich Olympic final and she held the British record for 800 metres for 20 years So she could run and when you stand code but we just didn't let him train at all until he was 13

4:13Because you can put a lot of pressure on kids and we just didn't want that So he just played rugby really badly And we enjoyed going along following on Saturday morning watching him have fun with his mates but not play great rugby He had the time of his life doing that Yeah He's only been training for three years is what you're saying Yeah, three years Ben that's incredible It's Andrew Mulligan here at Smiles Hey listen Ben I know that it's just the career pathway now You're like you're even talking about commonwealth games and like you said I don't think it really was on the radar until very recently What's it like going to the states and getting like I know there must be scholarships Being thrown at you guys at the might is it is that is that on the radar is running professionally Or is it going now it's professional with the NCAA college system? Is that an option? What's it what's it going to be like over the next couple of years? Yeah he's just kind of he's just tipped all of our plans at the window basically with what he's done

5:15So he could have gone to the US on the scholarship but he's he wouldn't actually run his first track race for a US college Until May 2029 because he's got two years here I was over the last week Yeah so he's got three and a half years until his first college race And the time that he just ran only one US collegiate student had ever run that fast in his history That's incredible Yeah so if he went to college now there's nobody in the NCAA system that's run as fast as him today So he's yeah it's a challenge So you were young and would you put him in a system where he's on your racing people slower Like it's not a good effortically which is crazy to think Yeah the best effort at going to the system in the world So what's he going to do? What do you do? Is he going to join the local Harrier's club? What does he do? I'll take tips from you boys What do you reckon?

6:15I reckon send him to Kenya I reckon get him an altitude And then go there I mean for so long it's been north and east Africa until England It's just like you need to I guess you need to find where the elites of the elites are going And find that progression and put him in a system like that Yeah what we're thinking now is we're going to go He's supposed to be doing World Junior this year and that's going to be a big thing But the Commonwealth Games is the week before So I think we'll go to the common games as our plan You can still go to World Junior's two years That they have them every two years So you still go to World Junior's two years And another couple of years time So you can always do that To go back to Scotland where it's now on the gold That would be pretty special So he'll go there And then we'll go when we're in Europe next year This year he's still going to do school He's going to finish that off But next year we'll spend a bit more time in Europe Some of the top athletes in the world Have reached out in the Kenta

7:15Have them along to training camps So we'll work in with Craig Gerkwood His coach and figure out How are we going to develop that? So if you're just drawing us Ben Ruth with us on the show Father of Sam Ruth who obviously is an absolute weapon at the moment Younger sister and your daughter Daisy as well We're going to hear her name soon enough as well That's another thing too I guess with her being younger And the pressure put on her You guys have got quite a balance Bit of a juggle going on at the moment I guess just with keeping everything in check I guess that's almost the toughest part I imagine for you guys at the moment is it? Yeah I think I got a little bit of grief actually When I, because I, before we broke four minutes for the mile I put it out there that he was trying to do it And we got a bit of media attention beforehand And so there's a bit of pressure on him to try and break four But the reason that I did that Is because he was in a really safe environment Surrounded by a whole bunch of friends and family And I'd rather my kids be under pressure And really good positive environments like that

8:15Rather than later on when they're in an Olympic stadium Surrounded by the competition So I actually don't mind that there's a bit of pressure on them While they're in good positive supportive environments So I think learning how to cope with pressure is probably the key to Yeah of course I just, yeah, my own little personal experience of being a reporter at the Olympics And seeing New Zealanders in the qualifying stages Because obviously you've been to a bunch of Olympics So yeah, those distances obviously Have heats and semi's and stuff like that The qualification process just to get, it spooks athletes Like a couple of them got spooked Like a famous one is Hamish Kerr Like he had to qualify in his last jump He was cooking the qualification And he knew it And then he goes in one's gold So dealing with that pressure early on Is probably a good thing in an environment that you can control somewhat Yeah, I think that's exactly it I like you

9:15What those tough environments that make you stronger Don't they? And I think if you can create them a little bit On your actually, it feels like It feels like it's a tough environment Actually you've got heaps of support around you To help you through it then actually you just get stronger and stronger But New Zealand is just an amazing community And we all have had his support And even though there could be the feeling of sort of pressure I think that actually can overwhelm him That just feels like people are really supporting him And he just wants to go out there and race anyway And we've never actually celebrated the results so much It's more the journey And working and trying as hard as you can And if you've done that and you've succeeded And it just turns out that when he's doing that He's ending up towards the front He's got such a kick-on on like that That Boston race on the weekend and the indoor one He just, he mowed that guy down Like he's like how much older was that runner in front of him? It's like Jonah Lomu rugby And we used to better do the turbo boost Yeah Peter Sisk, that guy Peter Sisk He's from Belgium

10:15He broke the national record for Belgium in that race Wow Peter's 26 years old, so 10 years older He's run a 143-800 which is faster than any New Zealander in history So he's got the best, you know, he's got an incredible kick to Peter Sisk And Sam put one and a half seconds on him and a half Who was amazing? Incredible Oh yeah, Ben, if he goes to Glasgow to the comm games Because he, Sam can run 5,000, 3,000 miles, 1,500, 800 What's he best at? What's he going to race at? Or is he going to do a couple? Well, it's a mile this year, so it's quite cool They've shifted it back from a 1,500 to a mile He'll do that He'd race the mile Yeah, he'd race the mile But I think it's a long term, he does seem to have a little bit of range But there's Ingebritzen's the gold standard of athletes that have come through And then we're coming on Olympic gold medalist And I got a call from the Norway national media And they said that they'll worry that Sam was coming

11:17I don't think that Sam's got a little bit more of the Ingebritzen as speed Ingebritzen's very, very, very strong And Winder's race is running from the front and pulling away Yeah So having a little bit extra speed will hopefully help him long term Goes without saying Sam Tanner has been obviously crucial And massive part of the journey and the success And he seems like such a great dude as well When I was 16, you won't remember where I was said before Where it wasn't in cod say time but I said loser At 16 And then you have your son Your game numbers are growing by the thousands by the day And you obviously guys are you and your mum doing a great job With you and his mum doing a great job You got a lot of people coming towards you with, you know, bloody sponsorships And all of that sort of stuff Because I imagine that's also a big part of this Yeah, I think if you, it's hard to explain how crazy that is Yeah How many emails a day? You come to the, you come to the US

12:17And it's suddenly explode And, you know, New Zealand might be two And the US is 200 So it's just, yeah But it's just filtering through that and Yeah, because that college Take that load away from him That college systems change now like the scholarship being paid for Will used to be the hook Now it's the NIL stuff where they pay you Not just the scholarship but actually you're getting paid to run as a collegiate athlete But as you said It's like, yeah, he could get a little bit slower if he's running against guys Who's times he's way ahead of So yeah, it's cool You've got the world's as oyster as yours been It's awesome to see He seems a great kid too Yeah, I'm biased But I quite like hang out with him Actually he's a good mate of mine And just a good guy to hang around with And I'm over here with Tanner as well He actually hit that poor Sam Tanner Strain is actually a little bit in the race It wasn't a running injury It was that somebody Somebody chopped his stride

13:17And he had to catch himself So he should be racing And a week and a half they're racing here in North Carolina And yeah, the Olympic gold medalist is lining up Our Cole Hocker And the race to race the reigning Olympic champion Wow Which is next level really And that's in the mile That's sort of hilarious Because he will race him Want to do his best against him But then also I probably won't like a selfie afterwards As a superhero Thirdly It's crazy that he Like a fan's attitude to it He really reads on the line What he just wants to race To win And that's how he'll go into every race including this one Which is crazy I think as soon as you start being scared of whoever it is That you're racing Then you start losing that battle So it's much better that he goes into that sort of attitude And yeah, I mean I've He's done so many unexpected things But I'm always worried that

14:17You know, he could be able to roll up and fall the pieces But that'll just be another lesson He can learn along the way And add to his collection of stories That will end up creating this career So rare Ben Ruth, the father of Sam Ruth The 11th all-time fastest mile And he's only 16 And he's got another one next week And maybe the com games too Amazing I know you must be inundated with people wanting to talk to you and Sam So thanks so much for your time Ben Thanks Ben, yeah, appreciate it bro Go well Yeah, brilliant too guys Unfortunately for you bro We're now in each other's DM And you're gonna We're gonna see if you just left us on scene So we're gonna have to talk to you again Yeah Ah cool, cool No good man's been there Good man bro, yeah And we're loving watching it bro Brilliant, that's awesome, cheers guys Thank you, thank you, have a good one