Minutes before the start of the men’s 1500m at the Adrian Martinez Classic the wind calmed and the rain lifted. Like the parting of the clouds, ZAP’s Dan Schaffer picked his way through the field over the course of 3 3/4 laps around the track Saturday evening to storm away for the win in the final straightaway.
After getting pushed back off the start line, Dan found himself at the back of the race around the first turn. Dan was patient over the opening 400m of the race, but as the pack came into the straight with 2 laps to go he began to move up in the field. Positioned in the middle of the field with 2 laps, the field began to string out heading into the bell. As the bell rang with 1 lap remaining Dan moved his way up to 3rd.
The race was winding up, but the real kicking began with 300m to go. Dan remained in 3rd place down the backstretch and around the bend with less than 200m remaining. As the group of 3 came off the curve with 100m Dan swung wide to give himself a clear path the finish line. He accelerate to catch the top 2 with 80m remaining and continued to accelerate past them through the finish line.
Thanks to a 56.1 final circuit, Dan stopped the clock with a new personal best of 3:40.37. You can find a full race replay below, and the official results with splits here.