M60-64: Persampieri Pulls Away in the Boston Heat

• Nick Persampieri (Burlington, VT, age 63) won the M60-64 group in 41:19 — a 6:39/mi pace — pulling clear of the field in the back half of the race.
• Derek Froude (Tampa, FL, age 64) took 2nd in 41:36, with Constantino Rago (Boxford, MA, age 61) just six seconds further back in 3rd at 41:42.
• The top three finished within 23 seconds of each other; 4th place Michael Di Lisio came in at 44:19 — a gap of nearly 2:37 off the lead.
• 132 men finished in the M60-64 group on a warm, humid Boston morning — 85°F with 64% humidity making every minute of effort count.

Running through the streets of Boston in sweltering conditions, Nick Persampieri controlled the M60-64 race from the front and only tightened his grip as the miles wore on. He entered the 5K-to-8K stretch sitting 262nd among the men, then surged to 237th — a meaningful move through the field mid-race — before settling at 239th at the finish. His 6:39/mi average was the class of the group, and his 5K-to-8K split ranked 212th among all men in the field, a strong middle passage that helped him build the cushion he needed.

Derek Froude made his own push in the second half. The Tampa native posted the 231st-fastest men's split on the final stretch — a solid close — but Persampieri had done enough damage earlier to hold him off. The 17-second gap between Froude and Rago at the line tells you how tight the battle for the podium's bottom step was, with Rago's 5K-to-8K split (231st among men) keeping him right in contention through the penultimate segment before Froude edged him at the finish.

Behind the podium, the race fractured sharply. Di Lisio's 44:19 and Mitchell Goldstein's 44:59 slotted in 4th and 5th, with Fumito Ichinose (45:01) just two seconds behind Goldstein in 6th — a tight cluster battling through the heat for the next set of positions. The rest of the top 20 stretched across a range of 7:30 to 7:57 per mile, a testament to both the depth of the M60-64 group and the toll that 85-degree heat in Boston takes on even well-prepared runners.