Men's Ascent: Allen goes wire-to-wire up the mountain

• Christian Allen (27, Orem, UT) won the men's race in 23:49, leading at every checkpoint and closing with the fastest Snow King→Finish split in the men's field — days after taking 4th among the men in the 23K.
• Joseph Gray, 41, ran 24:13 for 2nd, holding 2nd the whole way with the 2nd-fastest closing split among the men.
• Cameron Smith completed the podium in 24:25 — an improvement on his 9th here in 2024, and part of his own double after 7th in the 23K.
• The 46K crowd came back for more: David Sinclair (2nd in the 46K) took 5th in 24:49, Ryan Becker (3rd in the 46K) 9th in 25:13, Noah Williams (4th in the 46K) 11th in 25:27.

At roughly 7,100 feet with a 17 mph wind raking the mountain, this was a straight fight up the hill — and the top five never shuffled. Allen led from the first checkpoint and, rather than protecting the gap, extended it: his Snow King→Finish split was the fastest in the men's field, sealing a 24-second win at 10:58/mi on a course that punishes anyone breathing sea-level air. Add his 4th in the 23K and a 4th here in 2024, and this win reads like a man who knows exactly what Palisades demands.

Behind him, the chase locked in early and held. Gray, at 41 the elder of the podium, ran 2nd throughout and threw down the 2nd-fastest finishing split — no fade, just not quite enough mountain left. Smith mirrored him in 3rd with the 3rd-fastest close, and Tyler Mccandless (4th, 24:35) made it four men closing hard in exact finishing order.

The doubles were everywhere. Philemon Ombogo Kiriago, just 22, took 7th in 25:07 after finishing 2nd among the men in the 23K — one of the weekend's best two-race hauls. Sinclair, Becker and Williams all backed up 46K podium-and-near-podium efforts with top-11 climbs here. Remi Leroux (10th, 25:15) and Andy Wacker (13th, 26:04) doubled off the 23K too.

Youth got its word in as well: 20-year-old Lukas Ehrle ran 26:16 for 15th (after 5th among the men in the 23K), and 19-year-old Griffin Briley took 17th in 26:38 — in a men's field 285 strong, that's rarefied air in every sense.