By David Rogers. SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It didn’t take long for New Hartford, Conn. native Annmarie Tuxbury to make her mark with the Blowing Rock-based ZAP Endurance elite running team. After joining the team in November, on Dec. 4 the Bryant University graduate finished in 12th place among the 3,421 women competing in the U.S. Marathon Championships, run in conjunction with the California International Marathon in Sacramento.
By race’s end, the elite field was headed by 26-yearold Paige Stoner of Charlottesville, Ariz., who covered the 26.2 mile course in 2:26:02. She was followed by Lauren Hurley of Boulder, Colo. (2:27:41), Elaina Tabb of Boston, Mass. (2:28:04) and Bria Wetsch of Centennial, Colo. (2:28:35). Stoner’s mile pace 5:34.
Just five minutes behind the first place finisher was the 28-yearold Tuxbury, who finished the course in 2:31::29, a 5:47 mile pace.
On/ZAP Endurance head coach Pete Rea told High Country Sports that Annmarie’s work ethic has been propelling her forward since college.
“Since graduating college, Annmarie has taken huge strides as she shifted her focus to longer distances on the roads,” said Rea. “In May of 2021 she finished 7th at the US 25k Championships in Grand Rapids, Mich. She followed that up in the fall of 2021 with another top 10 U.S. Championship finish, a 10th place showing at the 20k Championships, as well as a personal best of 1:12:09 for the half marathon.
“In 2022, Annmarie ran 2:38 at the Boston Marathon and turned around 6 weeks later to run 2:39 and take the win at the Vermont City Marathon,” Rea added. :Most recently, she won the Hartford Half Marathon, nearly running another personal best with her 1:12:40 finish. We are excited to have Annmarie on our team. Along with another set of eyes on her training from our coaches and the benefits of learning from other team members here at ZAP, we think Annmarie has a bright future ahead of her.”
