In a wild men’s race at Grandma’s Marathon on Saturday, On ZAP Endurance’s Andrew Colley worked his way through the field to a 2nd place finish. His mark of 2:12:13 was a new personal best by over 3 minutes and established a new ZAP record, bettering the mark of teammate Josh Izewski by 1:01 set at last year’s California International Marathon.
The On ZAP Endurance quartet of Izewski, Colley, Joe Stilin, and training partner Pardon Ndhlovu ran together through the first 16 miles, clipping off miles in the 5:00-5:05 range. Despite passing through the halfway marker in 1:06:20, the group was still over 3 minutes behind the early leader, Boniface Kongin, who passed halfway on pace to run 2:05. Just past 16 miles, Izewski was forced to step off the course due to a nagging IT band injury, and Colley moved into 3rd place by himself.
Just past 20 miles Colley overtook 2nd place, but the gap to Kongin grew to over 4 minutes. Just past 20 miles, Kongin began to feel the effects of the quick early pace, stopping multiple times to walk and rub his calf. Meanwhile, Colley was running strongly and chewing into the once seemingly insurmountable lead. By 25 miles the lead was down to 90 seconds and Colley was continuing to close the gap.
Kongin would hold on for a 17 second victory, but Colley was rewarded with a strong 2nd half and 2nd place finish in a new personal best time of 2:12:13. Behind him Ndhlovu would run 2:18:57 and Stilin clocked 2:19:20.