3X Men: Off Course Wins It, Brute Squad Pushes Hard to the Summit

• Off Course (Bittick, Manning & Racca) finished in 18:57:42 at a 14:03/mi average, claiming 1st in the 3X Men field across 81 miles from Salton City to Palomar Mountain.
• Brute Squad (Cronk, Goldberg & Noyes) crossed in 19:27:29 — 29:47 back — to take 2nd, the only other team to finish in the 3X Men field of six.
• Off Course logged the 8th-, 9th-, and 10th-fastest men's splits on the Second Half; Brute Squad countered with the 7th- and 8th-fastest men's splits on the CA Trail→Peña segment.
• Both teams navigated 9,000+ feet of elevation gain on a clear, cool April morning — ideal conditions for a push to Palomar Mountain's 5,500-foot summit.

The 3X Men field came down to two teams of three, and Off Course — Benjamin Bittick (46, Tulare), Clay Manning (44, Clovis), and Ryan Racca (50, Fresno) — set the standard. They made their move in the back half of the race, steadily climbing the men's gender standings from positions around 18th–20th at the opening checkpoint all the way to 8th, 9th, and 10th among all men by the finish. That sustained climb through the field tells the story of a team that got stronger as the miles mounted.

Brute Squad — Tim Cronk (63, Oro Valley), Kevin Goldberg (37, Westminster), and Peter Noyes (43, Sunland) — had a different tactical arc. They made their most decisive move in the middle of the race, surging from the mid-to-high teens in the men's standings all the way into the top 10 through the CA Trail→Peña segment, where Cronk and Goldberg posted the 7th- and 8th-fastest men's splits on that stretch. But the final push to Palomar saw them settle back to 13th and 14th among men, while Off Course was still accelerating.

The gap at the line — 29:47 over 81 miles — reflects how cleanly Off Course managed the full traverse. In a race that climbs from 234 feet below sea level to a 5,500-foot mountain finish, finishing under 19 hours as a three-person unit is a genuine feat, and Off Course did it with room to spare.