The ZAP team kicked off the track season with a PR from Dan Schaffer at the Raleigh Relays. Dan, in his first track 5,000m since May of last year, shaved 2 seconds off his personal best, running 13:34 to place 8th. Josh Izewski competed at Raleigh as well, and after running with the pace through 3k, he had a tough final mile, finishing a bit off his goal for the day. Pacing his race was teammate Eric van der Els, who took the field through 2 miles in 8:44 before stepping off the track. For Eric it was a perfect introduction to the track before gearing up for his track debut in April.
Out west, Amanda Vestri took aim at a fast time in the Sound Running 10,000m Saturday night. Amanda had a rare off night, fighting through a difficult 2nd half to run 31:56. Her personal best of 31:10, run last year, will still count toward qualifying for this summer’s US Track & Field Championships, as well as toward her world ranking for the World Championships.
Amanda, after racing 3 half marathons in 3 months prior to the 10k this past weekend, will enjoy some much needed down time in the month of April. She will be back with racing in May and June as she aims toward a strong summer season.
Full Results from the Raleigh Relays are here and full results from the Sound Running event are here.
Cooper River / Cherry Blossom Preview
Dan will be stepping out to the roads this Saturday where he’ll compete at the Cooper River Bridge Run, one of the largest 10k races in the world in Charleston. The race begins at 8:00am Saturday, April 5th, and will be streamed live here on ABC4. Live results will be available here.
Josh will be stepping back up in distance as well coming off the track 5,000m. He will be racing the US 10 Mile Championships this Sunday as part of the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile. Live results will be available on the race app as well as here.
Eric will open up his outdoor track season in the 1500m at the Duke Invitational on April 11th. Then he’ll be back in action at the Wake Forest Invitational the following weekend on April 18th where he’ll race the 5,000m Dan will be competing on the track there as well at 1500m.