M80+ at Barks & Brews 5K: Ammon Leads Five Octogenarians Home

• Mike Ammon won the M80+ group in 27:04 (8:43/mi), the fastest of five finishers aged 80 and above.
• Ernie Takahashi was the runner-up in 31:48, finishing 4:44 behind Ammon — the largest gap on the podium.
• Michael O'Haver rounded out the top three in 41:45, nearly 10 minutes back of Takahashi.
• Chris Pantos, at 84 the oldest finisher in the group, crossed in 49:07, edging Ronald Young (50:14) by just over a minute.

Five men aged 80 and older toed the line in Sacramento on a warm Memorial Day Monday — 73°F and clear skies — and every one of them finished. That's the headline before the headline. Mike Ammon of Carmichael set the pace from the front, running 8:43 per mile to finish in 27:04, a commanding performance that put nearly five minutes of daylight between himself and second place.

Ernie Takahashi of Sacramento was a clear second in 31:48, holding a consistent 10:14/mi through the back half of the course and pulling away from the rest of the field in the closing mile. The gap from Takahashi to third-place Michael O'Haver, however, was a striking one — O'Haver's 41:45 was nearly ten minutes behind, suggesting a hard final stretch at 13:26/mi.

At the back of the group, an interesting duel played out between Chris Pantos of Penryn and Ronald Young of Sacramento. Pantos, 84 years old and the eldest competitor in the M80+ field, finished in 49:07. Young, three years his junior at 81, came in at 50:14 — just 67 seconds separating them at the line. Pantos held that gap through the final mile to keep fourth place.

All five men finished. On a warm late-May morning in Sacramento, that's a result worth raising a brew over.