Raleigh Relays Preview
This weekend will be the first track racing of the year for the ZAP team. While picking up where the 2024 track season left off (with 3 athletes in the top 10 at the Olympic Trials and another in the 5k final) may be a bit of a stretch, Amanda Vestri, Dan Schaffer, and Josh Izewski will certainly be aiming to keep the positive momentum rolling this weekend.
Dan and Josh will be competing in the 5,000m at the Raleigh Relays on Thursday night, March 27th at NC State University. Josh ran here last year after his 7th place finish at the Olympic Marathon Trials the month prior, and has a PR in the event of 13:48 set in 2018. It’s a rare appearance on the track for Josh, and will provide a great tune-up for the US 10 Mile Championship the following weekend at the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler.
Dan will also be using the 5k as a good tune-up for a road race the following weekend. For Dan, it will be the Cooper River Bridge Run 10k in Charleston, SC. But the scenery of the oval is a far more familiar for Dan. He narrowly missed his 13:36 PR last year, running 13:37, and will be looking to take a crack at that mark in his first track race since last June. Eric van der Els won’t be racing but he will be pacing one of the 5k sections.
For those of you in the Triangle, we’d love to see you at the NC State track on Thursday evening. If you’re out there be sure to say hi! You can watch live on ESPN and the ACC Network and view start lists and live results here.
Sound Running 10,000m Preview
Amanda Vestri will be returning to San Juan Capistrano, CA for the 2nd year in a row to contest the fastest 10,000m on US soil of the year. She is in a much different position than she was a year ago when she was coming off injury and the owner of a 32:08 personal best. Amanda ran a great race a year ago, winning the 2nd section handily and clocking a then-personal best of 31:54.
This year, Amanda comes into the meet with a 31:10 personal best and with her last track race being a 5th place finish at the Olympic Trials. Amanda will be in the fast section and her PR of 31:10 ranks her as the 9th fastest entrant, 4th among Americans. The World Championship standard is 30:20, but any improvement in Amanda’s personal best will likely improve her world ranking enough to secure her spot on Team USA should she finish in the top 3 at the US Championships at the end of July.
Coming off 3 half marathons (1:08:13, 1:07:35, and 1:08:17 on a hilly Atlanta course), Amanda’s stronger than she has ever been. And she’s riding the wave of momentum from making her first senior US team after finishing 3rd in the US Half Marathon Championships earlier this month. She’s eager to take advantage of her newfound strength this weekend as she steps back down in distance to the 10k.
Amanda’s race will begin at 8:55pm pacific time (11:55pm eastern time.) You can watch the live stream on Flotrack (subscription required), find live results here, and get all the race information, including entries, here.