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Zachary Ryan Friedley

@trailblader

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Pro Runner @hoka
Founder @borntoadapt
🏃@borntoruncoach
🦿@eastsideprosthetics @ossur.us
🏃@precisionfandh
Biz Inquiries [email protected]
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Basically got to be Hype Queen for all my friends in the most beautiful place 👑 @mammothtrailfest you absolutely stole the show. Congrats to every single athlete out there and thanks to @mountainoutpost for my first commentating gig💃 And a huge shoutout to @trailblader and @borntoadapt for the work that went into creating the FIRST EVER para-athlete purse prize in trail running history...so freaking cool and so overdue. 🙌 *I would have loved to have seen the 🐻 post-17 Red Bulls...probably setting FKTs all over Mammoth 🤣
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Mammoth Trail Fest, we showed up 🙌 Good people, big miles, and para-athletes out there doing what they came to do. That’s what it looks like when the sport makes room for more of us. Thank you to everyone who visited the Born to Adapt tent. Let's keep the adventure going! #MammothTrailFest #BornToAdapt #TrailRunning #ParaAthletes
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What a day it has been so far for the @borntoadapt para-athletes!! Absolutely crushing the 26km race today. Amazing work 🫶🔥 📸 @austinalfaro
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It all kicks off this weekend in Mammoth Lakes, California! Don't forget about the $6,200 prize purse for para-athletes at Mammoth Trail Fest. If you're an eligible para-athlete, come race, connect, and be part of something special in Mammoth Lakes. A huge thank you to @fractelrunning for helping make this happen. We'll see you at the Born to Adapt tent in the village. 😎
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Mammoth Trailfest Makes History for Para Athletes On September 25 to 27, 2026, The Mammoth Trailfest will make history by awarding the first para athlete prize purse at a trail running event. The event has partnered with Born to Adapt, adaptive athlete inclusion nonprofit (founder Zach Friedley), Paralympian Dani Aravich, as well as FRACTEL, a running apparel company founded by Matt Niutta, a legally blind para athlete ally. Read more in our bio @borntoadapt @mammothtrailfest @trailblader @theonearmdan @fractelrunning 📷 @brettyraw
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Para-athletes, this one’s for you. 👀 Mammoth Trail Fest is offering a para prize purse and creating a real opportunity for adaptive athletes to show up, compete, and be part of something special. Every para-athlete who steps onto that starting line helps show what’s possible, and encourages more races to create opportunities like this. 🙌 This is how we move para trail running forward: we show up, participate, and build it together. Register through the link in our bio. We’d love to see you out there. 🏔️ . . #mammothlakes #trailfest #mammothmountain #borntoadapt
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Just applied for graduation... Dr. Lewis loading December 12th... 🎓
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Somewhere, there’s a young disabled person who hasn’t seen someone like them on a trail yet. Who wants to try, but doesn’t know if they’ll be welcome. If the race will be ready for them. If there’s a place for them in this sport. That’s why this moment matters. When Zach came to UTMB in 2022, he didn’t see another para-athlete. Four years later, he watched a growing community show up in Chamonix, and athletes like Jahir show what’s possible when talent has an opportunity. Imagine what it would mean to see that as a kid. To watch someone cross a finish line and think, “Maybe I could do that, too.” We want that possibility to lead somewhere. To an accessible race. A supported start line. A podium worth chasing. A future in the sport. Getting there takes people willing to act. If you’re a brand, invest in para-athletes. If you organize races, bring us into the planning. If you work in media, tell these stories with the care and attention they deserve. And if you’re someone who believes the outdoors should belong to all of us: share this, come to an activation, or help someone take their first step onto a trail. We’re proud of how far this community has come. We’re thinking about everyone who’s still waiting for their chance. Help us make room for them. 💚 #BornToAdapt #ParaTrailRunning #AdaptiveAthletes
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When we got to Le Tour, with 8 miles remaining, I knew that if we moved well, @bladerunner_ecuador was going to destroy the current OCC course record for a below-knee amputee. I was getting so excited the last 5km...and in my very broken Spanish, I attempted to motivate, do everything I could do get him through the last climb and down into Cham. It was so cool watching Jahir fight all day, but especially at the end as he charged his way to that damn finish line. One of the greatest gifts in sports is watching others achieve their goals and all of us witnessed that on Thursday 😍 Thank you to @trailblader and @borntoadapt for the incredible opportunity. And huge shout to our team: @milozanecchia for guiding with me for 18mi, speaking wayyyy better Spanish, and for capturing the amazing day, @eastsideprosthetics and @daniseykora for the exceptional crew support. To my bestie Webz and @kevinmer for the cheer squad at the Vallorcine lift, and to all the humans who sent encouraging messages/photos of us on UTMB Live, and who met us at the finish line. Love you all mucho and such a good group of humans 🫶🏼 #DreamOn 📸: @milozanecchia and @kevinmer
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In April @trailblader asked if I could guide Zamy Jahir Ramos for OCC (61km, 11,500ft). I did not have a qualifier this year for the @utmbmontblanc World Finals due to my bilateral hamstring tendon tears last summer, which made guiding duties my main mission for UTMB week. Jahir's goals were to run faster than he did last year and chase the course record set by a below-knee amputee. Not only did Jahir run 1hr faster than he did last year on a longer course, he set the course record in 11:13:10! Guiding Jahir was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I am absolutely honored that he trusted me to join him on his journey. Such a good freaking day 💃 #DreamOn 📸: @milozanecchia who joined us for 18mi, capturing all the content of Jahir and speaking wayyyy better Spanish than me 🫶🏼
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For the second year in a row, our athlete @trailblader and his organization @borntoadapt supported Zamy “Jahir” Ramos on his journey to OCC, 60 km through the Swiss and French Alps. From getting to Chamonix to providing the resources needed to train, prepare and compete at this level, Born to Adapt helped make the opportunity possible. And Jahir made it count. He completed the OCC in 11 hours and 13 minutes, setting a new Para course record for a below-knee amputee runner. This is what sport looks like when a community comes together to break barriers. Keep adapting. Keep pushing. Keep going. 📸 @milozanecchia @borntoadapt
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Athletes of the Week: Zachary Friedley & Zamy “Jahir” Ramos 🤝 It didn’t feel right to shout out Zachary as Athlete of the Week without spotlighting Jahir, who returned to race OCC for his second consecutive year, taking on 60 kilometers through the Swiss and French Alps. Born to Adapt (founded by Zachary) helped cover Jahir’s journey to Chamonix, along with many of the resources required for him to train, prepare, and compete at this level. That kind of opportunity runs on community support, and @borntoadapt makes it happen. And this year, Jahir made history. He completed OCC in 11 hours and 13 minutes, setting a new Para course record for a below-knee amputee runner. In other big news, Zachary just announced he’s officially a HOKA athlete, with a bigger vision behind the partnership still to come. Check out his full kit on Rendezvu (we’ll get Jahir to create a profile next 😉). 🔗 in bio rendezvu.co/zachary-friedley 📸 @milozanecchia
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