M70-74 at the NYC Half: Palacios Rules the 70s

• Jaime Palacios, 71, wins M70-74 in 1:47:26 — an 8:12/mi average across 13.1 miles from Prospect Park to Central Park.
• Biggest mover: Carl Holmes (4th, 1:56:14) was outside the top four for most of the race but posted the strongest 20K-to-finish split in the group to surge into contention late.
• Widest gap on the podium: Christopher Robinson's 2nd-place 1:58:46 trails Palacios by more than 11 minutes, while Bradford Goz's 3rd-place 2:15:14 sits another 16-plus minutes back.
• 86 finishers in M70-74 completed the course, with times ranging from Palacios's 1:47:26 to Paul Denz's 10th-place 3:00:54.

Jaime Palacios of Fresh Meadows, NY, owned this race from start to finish. Running at 8:12 per mile on a crisp 40°F morning, the 71-year-old moved steadily through the men's field at every checkpoint — from 5,710th among men at the first mark all the way to 3,370th by the finish — and was never threatened within M70-74. His winning margin of more than 11 minutes over Christopher Robinson (2nd, 1:58:46, 9:04/mi) made this a commanding performance rather than a close contest.

The most dramatic sub-plot belonged to Carl Holmes, 70, of Jacksonville. Holmes was running 4th through the 20K mark, but his closing split was the fastest of any M70-74 finisher on that final stretch, lifting him to 4th at the line in 1:56:14 (8:52/mi) — actually faster than Robinson's 2nd-place time on a per-mile basis. The timing, however, wasn't quite enough: Holmes finished 2:32 behind Robinson, a gap that had opened up over the earlier miles when Robinson was running the stronger pace.

Behind the top four, the field spread out considerably. Angelo Morrongiello (7th, 2:03:41) and Sidney Cohen (12th, 2:07:22) represented solid mid-pack efforts in the nine-minute-per-mile range. Gabriel Dore, 73, making the trip from Ferme Neuve, Quebec, crossed 6th in 2:19:22, while Rick Markert (5th, 2:17:50) edged him by just under two and a half minutes. At the back of the listed field, Paul Denz (10th, 3:00:54) became the first to break the three-hour mark — a milestone in its own right for a 71-year-old covering 13.1 miles.