By David Rogers. RALEIGH, N.C. — After cruising near the back of a 10-man pack for the first three laps of the 4-lap Sir Walter Miler men’s elite mile race on Aug. 4 at Meredith College, Blowing Rock-based Dan Schaffer used a blistering last 200 meters to capture third place in the prestigious event.
Amon Kemboi, representing Puma Elite, took the top spot with a time of 3:57.84, followed by Ben Allen of Empire Elite in 3:58.19.
Schaffer, who joined ZAP Endurance just a year ago, was less than a second off of first place with a time of 3:58.57.
A dozen elite milers competed in the race and exactly half of them put in sub-minute times, even though the first lap was relatively slow at 60 seconds flat. Shaffer did not begin to threaten the leaders until the end of the backstretch on the final lap, then jumped to the outside, picking off runners ahead of him but was unable to nose out Kemboi and Allen.
The top three finishers had different strategies for the race in terms of their positioning. While Schaffer ran toward the back of the back until the last lap, Allen was among the leaders almost the entire race. Meanwhile, Kemboi spent much of the race between fourth and fifth place positions before surging ahead at the end.
Kemboi had already taken the lead at the 1500-meter mark, just a half second ahead of Jesse Hunt (unattached). At that point, Allen was in third and Schaffer was a second behind Kemboi, in fifth.
Schaffer has enjoyed a successful racing campaign in 2023, finishing among the top five in almost every race in which he has competed.
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VIDEO courtesy of RunnerSpace
