2004 ZAP Fitness year-end report

by Rico Petricelli

And so we come to the end of 2004, a year full of tribulations (and of course trials… Olympic Trials) for all of us here at ZAP Fitness. With temperatures now dipping into the single digits on the mountain, it is a great time to reflect on 2004 and look at the plans for 2005. As most of you know, this year was a year of "new boundaries" for our club — new boundaries for both our athletes as well as the ZAP facility itself. For the third-consecutive year each of our elite athletes saw multiple PRs, five qualified for the Olympic Trials, and we were represented by a ZAP Fitness resident athlete at virtually every top-notch domestic meet. Our athletes competed in races from the 800m to the marathon in places like Brussels, Belgium; Hillsdale, Michigan; Los Angeles, California; Manchester, Connecticut; and of course the Olympic Trials in Sacramento, California and St. Louis, Missouri. In addition ZAP was again represented at the World Cross Country Championships, this time by resident athlete Ian Connor.

Our mountain campus was as busy as our athletes. In 2004 we hosted more individuals, team groups, as well as corporate events than ever before. College teams such as Ohio State, the University of Texas, NCAA runner-up Duke, Virginia Tech, and Florida State joined corporate groups such as PowerBar, CamelBak, and Suunto as well as our dedicated adult running campers, as those who took advantage of our mountain retreat center. As always, the ZAP athletes worked diligently in making sure all went smoothly for the visiting groups — assisting in meal preparation, campus maintenance, and serving as overall ambassadors for our developmental club. The regional and national press has also been very good to us in 2004. This year features on ZAP were seen in Running Journal, Running Times, New England Runner, Metrosport, and the December issue of Track & Field News, which covered our Fall Distance Summit. In addition a television "up close and personal" segment featuring ZAP President Zika Palmer was aired in St. Louis (KSDK Channel 5 – NBC) prior to the Olympic Marathon Trials and National Public Radio did an in depth piece on Zika and ZAP Fitness during the spring as well.

2005 promises to be yet another exciting year. With five new athletes in the program (Kyle King, Vince Sherry, Brendan O'Keefe, Debbie Thornhill, and Amanda Chase), the energy here is more positive than ever, and each ZAP athlete has their sights set on this year's USA Track & Field Championships and a spot on the World Track & Field team. Winter competitions will begin with races in New York City on New Year's Eve (Brian Rosetti), Jan. 15th in Bermuda (Joe Driscoll, Thornhill, Connor), and Blacksburg, VA (Pete Sherry, Chase, Rosetti) – followed by competitions in Boston on the weekend of Feb. 29th and the World Cross Country Trials in Vancouver, WA (Feb. 12th) where ZAP hopes to have at least one athlete on the World Cross team for the third consecutive year. Groups begin to arrive for spring retreats this year earlier than ever (February) and the summer season looks like it will sell out once again.

For more information on ZAP Fitness or its programming visit them on the web at http://www.zapfitness.com/ or call 828-295-6198.