1st year resident athlete Alissa McKaig began her spring season on Saturday 3/6 by finishing 4th at the North American / Central American XC Championships at the MT Irvine Golf Resort (Trinidad & Tobago). The United States took 3 of the top 4 spots en route to winning the North American Team Title as well. This was Mckaig's first US Team. McKaig will return to action on Friday 3/26 at the Raleigh Relays.
The Manchester Road Race (4.74 miles) in Manchester, Connecticut has become a holiday tradition for the ZAP Elite resident team since 2002, but there has yet to be a year as successful as 2009 with all 4 ZAP athletes who competed finishing in the top 10. On the men's side first year resident athlete David Jankowski continued his successful fall by finishing 3rd in a time of 21:44, just 4 seconds behind winner Haron Lagat of New Mexico (21:40). 2nd year ZAP athlete Dave Nightingale was 7th in a time of 22:05, 37 seconds faster than his 2008 performance. In the women's race ZAP rookie Alissa Mckaig finished 6th in a time of 22:56 with Jessica Minty 8th in a time of 26:08, 41 seconds faster than her 2008 race.
October 3rd kicked off the '09 / '10 competitive year for Team ZAP as rookies David Jankowski and Alissa McKaig both took 3rd place finishes at the Apple Festival 4 Miler in Erwin, TN. Jankowski ran an impressive 18:50 on the hilly East Tennessee course and McKaig crossed the line in 23:57. On Sunday October 11th 2nd year resident athletes Nate Peck and Jessica Minty ran the B.A.A. 1/2 Marathon. Peck finished 7th in a time of 1:06.28 and Minty ran a personal best time of 1:16.37 for 6th place. Allison Grace, who was to run her first marathon at Twin Cities, incurred a kidney infection along with numerous kidney stones forcing her out of the race.