Masters Men: Cape Fear Bandits Dominate, Honey Badger Trifecta Packs the Podium

• Cape Fear Bandits (Andrew Garber) won Masters Men in 17:34:30 — a 13:01/mi average across 81 miles from below sea level to 5,500 feet, and the fastest split on the 14M→35M segment.
• Honey Badger Trifecta (Michael Davis, Ramses Armendariz & Martin Gruebele) swept 2nd, 3rd, and 4th — all three crossing in 19:17:00, a full 1:42:30 behind the winners.
• Our Place (Jared Cozad) charged late, posting the 5th-fastest split on the 50M→68M stretch to climb from 9th to 5th and finish in 21:01:00.
• Youthless Wrecks (Tim O'Brien, 65, & Robert Becker, 80) completed the full 81-mile traverse in 27:24:30 — Robert Becker's finish at age 80 is the standout individual story of the Masters Men field.

The Masters Men field sent 23 finishers up this relentless point-to-point — from Salton City's desert floor, 234 feet below sea level, to the summit of Palomar Mountain at 5,500 feet — and Cape Fear Bandits (Garber) set the tone from the gun. Moving to the front early and never relinquishing it, the team logged a 13:01/mi average that proved untouchable, holding the lead from the second checkpoint all the way to the finish line.

Behind them, Honey Badger Trifecta pulled off something rare: a three-person team finishing in perfect lockstep at 19:17:00. Davis, Armendariz, and Gruebele ran the race as a genuine unit, with their strongest collective segment coming between miles 35 and 40 — where all three posted the top three splits in the field on that stretch. The 1:42:30 gap to Cape Fear Bandits was established early and held firm; the real battle within the Trifecta was simply keeping all three men moving together over more than nine thousand feet of gain.

Fifth place was earned rather than inherited. Our Place (Cozad) sat as far back as 9th at the 50-mile mark before a strong 50M→68M push — the 5th-fastest split on that segment — dragged the team up to 5th by the finish in 21:01:00. Two Be Determined (Kline & Learned) held 6th in 22:14:57, followed by Sand to Summiteers (Macaluso & Ryan) in 7th at 23:16:30, with the remaining teams spread across the final hours of a brutal desert-to-mountain haul.

The last word belongs to Youthless Wrecks. Tim O'Brien (65) and Robert Becker (80) finished together in 27:24:30 at a 20:18/mi average — Becker covering every one of those 81 miles on foot. That's the kind of number that earns its own paragraph.