ZAP Endurance’s Ryan Ford raced to a 10th place finish at the US Cross Country Championships Saturday afternoon in Richmond, VA. He improved 2 spots on his 12th place finish from a year ago. Ryan battled for a spot on the World Championship team (top 6 finishers) through 7k and battled all the way to the line for a 10th place finish.
The opening 5k of the race saw a large pack of 14 men break free from the field. Ryan remained positioned within that group throughout the race despite a variety of surges and pace variations thrown in. As the pace began to ratchet down at 8k Ryan lost touch with the lead pack, but continued to battle all the way to the finish. He was positioned as high as 9th before slipping one spot in the final straightaway. Ryan beat 3 Olympians in the race and was proud of the way he competed against a strong field.
“I feel like I’m just getting started and am feeling motivated to get back to work to build on this fitness,” commented Ryan after the race. Ryan will be back on the track in a few weeks at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University where he will run the 5,000m alongside teammate Dan Schaffer. After that both he and Dan will head west to The Ten with the goal of posting an Olympic Trials qualifying time in the 10,000m on March 18th.
You can find full results from the US Cross Country Championships here.
Amanda Vestri was forced to pull out of the race after suffering an injury following her 3k race the week before. She is feeling better and is optimistic she will be able to return to training soon.