By David Rogers. PITTSTON, Pa. — Blowing Rock’s Josh Izewski was nowhere to be seen at the start of the Wyoming Valley 10-Mile Run on Sept. 1, but then no one was in sight of him as he crossed the finish line No.1, successfully defending the champion’s title he won a year ago.
Izewski is a member of Blowing Rock-based ZAP Endurance, an elite professional team of cross country, track and road racing runners, with specialists ranging from 1500 meters to the marathon, men and women.
This was just the second edition of the Allied Services hosted Wyoming Valley Run. For the elite runners, first place earned Izewski not only bragging rights of owning the title after winning for the second straight year, but also a cash prize of $2,000, according to event information.
Although hundreds of runners from the northwestern Pennsylvania region participated in the event, Izewski’s winning time of 48 minutes, 18 seconds in the rainy, sloshy conditions was almost five minutes ahead of the No. 2 finisher, Alex Monroe (53:06) and almost three minutes more than No. 3 Brendan Turowski (55:57).
Race organizers advertise the Wyoming Valley course as “the flattest and fastest” in Pennsylvania, with an elevation change of only about 60 feet.
