By David Rogers. HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (remote) — With a chance to compete in a race he watched growing up as a kid, Blowing Rock-based ZAP Endurance elite running team member Ryan Ford returned to his hometown on May 26 and won the historic Cotton Row Run 10K.
Although there were other elite professional athletes competing for the prize money among the 1,555 runners, including a sprinkling of international entrants, Ford blew away the field. His winning time of 29:04 for the 10K distance was about a minute and a half slower than his all-time best a year ago (27:40.80 at Parliament Fields in London, England) — but two minutes and a second faster than his nearest competitor on this day, Sam Chelanga (31:05) of Fayetteville, N.C.
“It may not have been his fastest 10K time,” said ZAP Endurance head coach Pete Rea after the race, “but as his first race following the Boston Marathon just over a month ago on April 21, it was an impressive result. And it made it just that much more special being in his hometown.”
The ZAP Endurance team will be busy in the coming weeks, hoping to qualify team members for July’s U.S. Championships in Eugene, Ore. While Amanda Vestri has already qualified in both the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters races, and plans to compete in both, she and teammate Tristin Colley have both entered the Mastercard New York Mini 10K in Central Park on June 7. Others, including Ford, Eric Van Der Els and Dan Schaffer will be trying to meet the qualifying standards on June 14-15, at the Portland (Ore.) Track Festival.
By David Rogers. CONCORD, N.C. — Charlotte native William Byron dominated most of the first three stages of the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25 — and picked up the lion’s share of the available season championship points for the night by winning the first three stages and leading 283 laps — but the longest NASCAR’s Cup Series race and its excitement had only just begun.
With veteran Denny Hamlin and relative newcomer Carson Hocevar battling Byron for the lead toward the end of the third stage, a lot folks might have thought the fourth and final stage winner would come down to one of those three. Circumstances can change quickly, though, and it was Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain overcoming adversity to capture the coveted Coca-Cola 600 crown for 2025.
“Honor and Remember” was a major theme of the race, acknowledging and expressing gratitude for the ultimate sacrifice of military veterans who have lost their lives while serving in the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard or National Guard, their service making possible the freedoms we all enjoy.
After a pit stop, crew members representing each team queue up to refill their gas cans — reminiscent of the 1974 lines at gas stations during the Arab Oil Embargo and gas rationing. Photo by David Rogers for High Country Sports
There were storylines aplenty for this edition of the 600 mile marathon of a race, including:
Chastain won the race despite having to start from the No. 40 position when he crashed in practice a day earlier and had to use a backup car that his Trackhouse Racing team was still assembling at 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning, he disclosed to reporters after the race.
Pole-sitter Chase Briscoe started at the front, but quickly faded to the mid-pack and in Stage 3 was involved in a multi-car crash, but survived and rallied to finish No. 3, behind Byron, in the 40-car field.
After crashing in the Indianapolis 500 earlier in the afternoon, Kyle Larson started on the front row of the Coca-Cola 600 and led 34 of the early laps. But he spun out on lap No. 43, then his day went from bad to worse when he was involved with the same Stage 3 crash with Briscoe, on lap 246. Larson’s early spin allowed Byron to take the lead and dominate the first three stages — and the 2025 Cup Series leader, Larson, could never recover.
Hamlin and Byron exchanged the lead five times in Stage 3 and Stage 4.
The start of the 2025 Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
By David Rogers. CONCORD, N.C. — The Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is right around the corner and High Country Sports will be there once again.
Widely regarded as one of the five most prestigious NASCAR Cup Series races, one of the “Crown Jewel” events alongside the Daytona 500, the Southern 500 the Brickyard 400 and the NASCAR All-Star Race, the Coca-Cola 600 is the longest race of the year at 600 miles and the only one with four stages (100 laps each). It is a test of endurance, pit and tire strategy and driver willpower.
Joey Logano spins out in Turn 4 during the 2018 Coca Cola 600. Photo by David Rogers
Winning the Coca-Cola 600 is a dream come true for those who have accomplished the feat and way up there on their respective bucket lists for those NASCAR drivers who haven’t won it.
Here’s what some of the sport’s biggest names had to say about the significance of winning the Coca-Cola 600, courtesy of Speedway Motorsports interviews:
Ross Chastain, No. 1, Trackhouse Racing
“I do not have the words to describe it. That race has just been such a staple of our sport for so long and just the extra 100 miles, looking back, how it’s changed the outcome of who was leading at 500 and who won the race, and the dynamic of the race.”
Austin Dillon, No. 3, Richard Childress Racing
“You know, any time you go to Victory Lane at the (NASCAR) Cup (Series) level, it’s special. That was my first race ever in the (NASCAR) Cup Series, winning and tracking down Jimmie Johnson, who was probably the best at Charlotte Motor Speedway at the time on a fuel mileage race and it was pretty dramatic and, it was awesome being at our hometown track, it feels like a home win.”
Kyle Busch, No. 8, Richard Childress Racing
“You know, winning at Charlotte Motor Speedway is special because it is the Coca-Cola 600. It is man versus machine, the longest race of the year and it’s one of the Crown Jewels of our sport, so obviously you want to take home that race. For me, I was finally able to accomplish that a few years ago, and it felt really good.”
Denny Hamlin, No. 11, Joe Gibbs Racing
“Knowing that you’ve got so many friends and family there watching, it’s always just special winning, in that backyard. It was really great to do the champagne toast afterward in the suite. You got members there that have been part of the Speedway Club for decades and to have that moment with them after they just watched you do some work and come out on top is a special moment.”
Chase Briscoe, No. 19, Joe Gibbs Racing
“It would mean a ton. That is definitely a Crown Jewel race. It was one I was super close to, two or three years ago, and I kind of made a huge mistake with three laps to go and it’s one that has stung ever since. So, it’s a race that would be super, super special to win. Just all the pageantry that comes with that race, the ring, the jacket, going up after the race, there’s just a ton of things about that race that make it so special. To be able to win that race would mean a lot to me for sure.”
Joey Logano, No. 22, Team Penske
“That has haunted me for a long time. The Coke 600 is definitely really high on my list of races I want to win. As a Coca-Cola racing family driver for my whole career, that’s one we gotta get done. Whether it’s because I’m part of the family or the really cool Coca-Cola fridge that they give away, or the fact that it’s just the Coca-Cola 600 and what that means to your career, all those are plenty of reasons to want it really bad.”
John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42, Legacy Motor Club
“Winning the Coke 600? I don’t know if there are words to necessarily describe it. It’s a Crown Jewel Race. So much history, probably one of the hardest races to win, in my opinion. The track changes so much over the 600 miles, starting in the day, falling to nighttime, trying to keep up with the race track adjustments with your race car. Where the lines are moving on the race track. There’s so much that goes into it. You have to be flawless. Drivers have to be flawless for 600 miles, in the longest race of the year that we run. It would definitely mean a lot.”
Ricky Stenhouse, No. 47, HYAK Motorsports
“It would be huge for us to win the Coke 600. It’s one that feels like we’ve had really good cars that’s finished in the top five, top ten, a few times, and it’s one of my favorite mile-and-a-half racetracks we go to. So, if we could win there, going back to my first ever Cup race I went to, that’d be pretty special.”
Daniel Suárez , No. 99, Trackhouse Racing
“The Coke 600 is definitely one of those races on my bucket list. It’s such an amazing, special race, and I hope that I can win the race, hopefully every time.”
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By David Rogers (remotely). PRAGUE, The Czech Republic. — An Ethiopian distance runner, Lemi Berhanu Hayle won the Orlen Prague Marathon for the second straight year, overcoming an early challenge by Felix Kipkoech of Kenya, but the talk of the town might well have been the long, flowing locks of Andrew Colley. A member of the Blowing Rock-based ZAP Endurance team of elite professional distance runners, Colley was No. 5 (out of 4,677 male athletes and close to 6,000 total) to cross the finish line — and the top American in the race.
Hayle pulled away from Kipkoech near the 18-mile mark to finish unchallenged the rest of the 26.2 mile distance, breaking the tape in 2:05:14. The Kenyan was a full two minutes later, in 2:07:19, followed by Tetsuya Yoroizaka of Japan at No. 3 (2:09:10), Ethiopia’s Andualem Belay Shiferaw at No. 4 (2:09:35), then Colley at No. 5, just 11 seconds later at 2:09:46.
Prague Marathon course map. Courtesy of RunCzech.
Following Colley was a potpourri of top athletes from Eritrea, Spain, Ethiopia, Kenya, The Czech Republic, Morocco, Luxemburg, France, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Poland, Australia, Kazakhstan, Slovakia and Georgia before the next USA athlete at No. 121, Isaac Mirti (2:49:18).
The marathon course on the streets of Prague, the capital and the largest city of The Czech Republic, ran up and down the sides of the Vltava River, as well as across picturesque bridges over the city’s main waterway. The event was first staged in 1994 and, according to the RunCzech website, came about as two friends were talking over a pint of beer:
“Like so many things in the Czech Republic, the idea of staging an international marathon in Prague came over a pint of beer (pivo). It was a fine autumn Saturday in November 1994, and Carlo Capalbo was sitting in a small bar with his friends and fellow Italians Francesco Alzati, Maria Vittoria Mastrostefano and Gelindo Bordin, winner of the marathon at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. They decide to ask the famous Emil Zátopek who won three gold medals holder from the Summer Olympics in Helsinki in 1952, for his support and advice.”
The Czech Republic, as Czechoslovakia, was one of the former Soviet republics and part of the USSR. On Aug. 20, 1968, the Soviet Union and other Warsaw pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia to suppress the Prague Spring, a period of liberalization under First Secretary Alexander Dubček. The invasion, known as “Operation Danube,” involved hundreds of thousands of troops and was aimed at halting reform efforts and restoring hard-line communist rule.
Fast forward a mere quarter century, to 1994, and the fall of the Soviet Union resulting in many former Soviet bloc countries’ gaining self-rule brought about creative thoughts of how to make life better for the residents and businesses. Having 10,000 runners traversing the streets of Prague must engender poignant memories among the longtime residents who witnessed lines of Soviet tanks rumbling into the heart of Prague, destroying everything in their path.
A Soviet tank runs over a city bus in Prague during the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Photo courtesy of The Czech Center New York.
By David Rogers (remotely). PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — For Josh Izewski, the Independence Broad Street 10-Mile Run was a homecoming of sorts. Originally from a Philadelphia suburb, Doylestown, Pa., Izewski was all smiles at the end of the race on May 4, crossing the finish line No. 1 by more than two minutes over the next runner.
Izewski, 35, is now one of the top marathoners based in Blowing Rock, a member of the ZAP Endurance elite professional running team. The former University of Florida track star finished the 10 miles in 46:14, well ahead of the No. 2 finisher, Taonga Mbambo, 24, of Line Lexington, Pa.
The Independence Broad Street 10-Miler has become a fixture in Philadelphia, staged continuously for more than 40 years, according to the event’s historical documents. From its modest beginnings in providing athletes with an opportunity to run through diverse Philadelphia neighborhoods and communities along Broad Street, the event has grown to include more than 40,000 runners embracing charitable causes in and around The “City of Brotherly Love.”
Izewski, who is training to run in July’s Gold Coast Marathon in Australia, was just one of several elite or professional runners in this year’s race.
By David Rogers. INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — In just his first professional race back following knee surgery in December, Blowing Rock-based ZAP Endurance team member Eric Van Der Els finished No. 8 among 51 professional runners competing in the U.S. Track and Field National 5K race on May 3.
Van Der Els’ ZAP Endurance teammate Daniel Schaffer finished one place out of the money list, at No. 11, giving the High Country’s leading elite distance running team two athletes among the top finishers in yet another national championship competition.
Olin Hacker, 27, of Flagstaff, Ariz. finished No.1 in 13:31.93. Van Der Els was just over 12 seconds behind, in 13:44.60, while Schaffer stopped the clock at 13:56.31.
“It was a good day for ZAP Endurance,” said the team’s head coach, Pete Rea. “Both of our runners finished among the leaders and Eric’s (Van Der Els) performance was especially constructive since it was his first race back since surgery this past December.
ZAP Endurance has two team member running on May 4, including Andrew Colley in the Prague Marathon (in Prague, The Czech Republic) and Josh Izewski in the Independence Broad Street 10-Mile Run (in Philadelphia, Pa.).
By David Rogers. BOSTON, Mass. — ZAP Endurance head coach Pete Rea described the 129th staging of the iconic Boston Marathon as the “deepest” field of top-flight marathon runners in the event’s history. Important for the High Country: two of his Blowing Rock-based athletes earned top 10 and top 20 finishing positions on April 21.
ZAP Endurance team members Ryan Ford and Tristin (Van Ord) Colley finished the 2025 course of 26.2 miles at No. 10 and No. 19, respectively, in the men’s and women’s divisions.
A happy Josh Cox (right), agent of Ryan Ford. greeted his star athlete after the April 21 running of the Boston Marathon. Ford took three minutes off the ZAP Endurance club record for the marathon distance. Photo courtesy of ZAP Endurance
Coming into the race, Ford had the 29th fastest time among the more than 60 professional marathon athletes entered in the elite field running Boston this year. In only his second career marathon race (his debut was last November in the New York City Marathon, where he ran 2:11:08), Ford lowered the ZAP Endurance club record while also lowering his personal best to 2:08:00. He clipped more than three minutes off his New York time — and his No. 10 Boston finish also lowered the ZAP club record by almost three minutes. The previous club record of 2:10:54 was set in January’s Houston Marathon by teammate Josh Izewski.
When told of Ford’s accomplishment, Izewski told Rea by telephone, “Well, I’ll just have to run faster in Australia,” referring to the Gold Coast Marathon in which he is scheduled to compete on July 6.
Trivia tidbit: Rea reports that Ford’s performance is the 4th-fastest American to ever run the historic Boston race, with three of those four achieved in the 2025 running of the event. In 2011, Ryan Hall ran the fastest Boston Marathon by an American, finishing No. 4 in 2:04:58. Hall is now retired from running competitively. He is a native of Kirkland, Wash., and the only American to run a sub-2:05 marathon to date.
A friendly, 3-way battle appears to be developing among the ZAP Endurance members for who holds the club record. Teammate Andrew Colley was a former club recordholder and will next try to outdo both Ford and Izewski when he competes in the Prague Marathon (The Czech Republic) on May 4.
The men’s division of the Boston Marathon was won by Kenya’s John Korir in a blistering 2:04:45, a 4:46 mile pace and the second fastest Boston Marathon in history. Ford was the third fastest American, behind Connor Mantz (No. 4, 2:05:06) and Clayton Young (No. 7, 2:07:04).
Korir is the second member of his family to win Boston. His older brother, Wesley, won in 2012 with a time of 2:12:40.
ZAP Endurance marathoner Tristin Colley and head coach Pete Rea were all smiles after the Boston Marathon on April 21. The event drew more than 30,000 runners in 2025, and Colley was No. 19 in the women’s division. Photo courtesy of ZAP Endurance
Tristin Colley, the former distance running star while attending App State as Tristin Van Ord and now married to ZAP teammate Andrew Colley, came into the deep Boston race with the 27th fastest qualifying time among the 64 elite female athletes vying for the prize money. Her 2:26:39 was just 43 seconds off her personal best of 2:25:58 (also the ZAP endurance women’s club record), established in Oct. 2023, in the Chicago Marathon. The Boston race was her fastest performance since the Chicago event.
The women’s division championship in Boston was claimed by Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi, in a course record 2:17:22. The first American woman to cross the finish line was Jess McClain, 33, at No. 7 (2:22:43). She is the 7-time NCAA All American who competed at middle distances for Stanford University.
Traditionally, the Boston Marathon is staged the third Monday of April. A recent exception was 2021, when the event was moved to Oct. 11 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
By David Rogers. ATLANTA, Ga. — A hard-charging Amanda Vestri, a member of Blowing Rock-based ZAP Endurance professional running team, surged past race favorite Weini Kelati of Flagstaff, Ariz. in the final two miles of the U.S. National Half Marathon Road Racing Championships on March 2, to capture third place and earn the final spot on the U.S. national team. The trio of Americans, led by No. 1 finisher Taylor Roe (Oklahoma State University alum now living in Durham, N.C.) and No. 2 Emma Grace Hurley (originally from Roswell, Ga., Furman University alum, now living in Indianapolis, Ind.) will compete in the 2025 World Athletics Road Running Championships to be hosted in San Diego, Calif., September 26-28.
The 24-yearold Roe completed the hilly course through downtown Atlanta in 1:07:22, followed by Hurley (age 27, 1:07:35) and Vestri (25, 1:08:17). ZAP Endurance teammate Tristin (Van Ord) Colley, a relative newcomer to the 13.1-mile distance, crossed the line at No. 16 (30, 1:11:50).
On the men’s side, ZAP Endurance veteran Andrew Colley ran in the lead pack for most of the race, even pressing to the lead about two-thirds of the way through. Another Oklahoma State alum, Alex Maier (24, Chapel Hill, N.C.) and veteran road racers Shadrack Kipchirchir (36, Colorado Springs, Colo.) and pre-race favorite Hillary Bor (35, Colorado Springs) broke away in the final miles to capture the top three spots to be selected for the World Athletics race in September, representing the U.S. Colley finished No. 5 (1:01:09), less than a minute off Maier’s winning time of 1:00:48. ZAP Endurance teammate Ryan Ford crossed the line No. 7, in 1:01:29.
“It was a really good weekend for ZAP Endurance,” said the team’s head coach Pete Rea after the race. “We are really proud to be represented by Amanda (Vestri) at the World Athletics championships. Plus, the performances of Tristin (Colley), Andrew and Ryan today were really top-notch in what were really deep fields this year. A lot of the country’s top runners were gunning for spots on the team that will represent the USA in San Diego.”
Rea noted that on Saturday, March 1, two more ZAP team members placed high in the Gate River Run 15k (a little more than 9 miles), in Jacksonville, Fla. Veteran marathoner Josh Izewski (34) finished No. 13, while ZAP teammate and middle distance specialist Daniel Schaffer (27) was right behind, at No. 14.
By David Rogers. ARMAGH, N. Ireland — It was Blowing Rock “bookends” for the top five finishers in the prestigious Armagh International 5K. Three runners broke the course record, led by Blowing Rock’s Andrew Colley, a ZAP Endurance professional club member representing the USA in 13:33. ZAP Endurance teammate Ryan Ford wasn’t far behind as the No. 5 finisher, in 13:48.
Holland Sports Athletic Club team member Jack Kavanaugh picked off a dozen runners in the final mile to finish second, in 13:35, while Sebastian Larstad of IFK Lindingo (Sweden) crossed the line No. 3, in 13:36.
Young Sebastian Larstad, left, points to Andrew Colley, center, the winner of the 2025 Armagh International 5k in Armagh, Northern Ireland on Feb. 13. Colley and Ryan Ford, right, who finished No. 5, are both members of Blowing Rock-based ZAP Endurance professional running team.
Colley’s performance comes just three months after he topped the field of the iconic Manchester Road Race in Connecticut, followed by a No. 8 finish in the Houston Half Marathon, setting a ZAP Endurance club record in the process.
Larstad, only 16 years of age, took to the lead right from the get-go in Armagh, leading a pack of 10 runners in gaining separation from the field by the halfway point. Event organizers after the race believed that Larstad’s 13:36 was close to a world record for a 16-and-under athlete, comparing him to Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, now a few years older..
Colley flirted with taking the lead with 1,000 meters to go, drawing side-by-side with Larstad, then tucked back in behind the young runner from Sweden.
At 600 meters to go, however, Colley put the proverbial pedal to the floor and rocked to the front, slowly extending the lead as Kavanaugh came from well behind to overtake the other leaders.
Nearly 80 percent of the approximately 300 athletes competing in the Armagh Men’s International 5k meter Road Race are from off the island of Ireland, according to event organizers. This year, 22 entrants had already run a sub-14 minute 5k time so a fast, competitive race was expected. It did not disappoint, as nearly two dozen runners finished under 14 minutes this year, a new event record, said the organizers.
By David Rogers. HOUSTON, Texas — Temperatures were at freezing but the pace was anything but on Jan. 19 for the 2025 Chevron Houston Marathon and the Aramco Houston Half Marathon races.
Israel’s Haimro Alame captured the Marathon men’s division title, completing the 26.2 mile course in 2:08:17, a torrid, 4:54 mile pace. Yemane Haileselassie crossed the line No. 2, just 8 seconds behind Alame.
Blowing Rock’s Josh Izewski, running for ZAP endurance, earned a No. 9 finish, running the streets of Houston in 2:10:54 to complete one of the season’s best comeback stories after an injury forced him out of the New York Marathon. In Houston, the 34-yearold Izewski was the second fastest American.
In the Half Marathon, ZAP Endurance team member Amanda Vestri finished No. 4 in the women’s division, just a minute, 29 seconds behind Ethiopia’s Senayet Getachew (1:06:05). Vestri’s 1:07:35 was then No. 8 all time performance by an American woman in the half marathon. She improved on her own ZAP Endurance club record (1:08.14)
Izewski’s time in the full marathon distance also broke the ZAP Endurance club record, set just this past November by teammate Ryan Ford in his marathon debut, in the New York Marathon. Ford’s previous record was 2:11:08.
In the men’s Half Marathon, BYU’s Conner Mantz set an American record, finishing just a fraction of an inch off the shoulder of race winner Addisu Gobena of Ethiopia. Starting with Gobena and Mantz, both of whom were clocked at 59:17, four runners finished the 13.1 mile course under an hour, also including Gabriel Geay (59:18) of Tanzania and Jemal Yimer (59:20) of Ethiopia.
Blowing Rock was also well represented in the elite men’s field for the Half Marathon. ZAP Endurance veteran Andrew Colley crossed the line in the No. 8 position, just a minute, 30 seconds behind the winners. ZAP teammate Ryan Ford (1:00:59) was also in the mix for the top elites, finishing No. 14. Both Colley and Ford bettered Colley’s previous ZAP club record of 1:01:35, established last year in Valencia, Spain.
Colley’s time was the No. 11 all-time performance for an American at the half marathon distance, Ford’s was No. 17.
Another great story for the ZAP Endurance team was the return of founder Zika Rea to running the marathon distance. Almost 20 years (and two children) ago, Rea qualified to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials in St. Paul, Minn., running the marathon in 2:41:06. She returned to the distance in Houston, finishing the full marathon in 3:32:07, an 8:06 mile pace.
