M30-39: Noah Williams Runs Away from a Deep Field at Broken Arrow 46K

• Williams wins in 4:06:09 (8:37/mi), finishing 7:21 clear of 2nd place — the largest gap in the top five by far.
• Nick Handel's return: 7th in the men's field here in 2024 with a 4:36:24, he came back in 2025 and charged to 2nd in M30-39 with a 4:13:30 — nearly 23 minutes faster.
• Tightest battle of the day: Handel (4:13:30) and Jonathan Aziz (4:14:35) were separated by just 1:05 at the line, with both men posting blistering late-race splits to hold their positions.
• Patrick Parsel rounded out the top five in 4:33:30 — a full 12:54 behind 4th-place David Norris, making the 4th-to-5th gap the widest in the top five.

Noah Williams made the M30-39 race look straightforward, but the numbers tell a more demanding story. Racing at altitude between 6,200 and 8,800 feet — conditions that punish anyone not fully adapted to thin air — the Leadville, CO native had a genuine home-terrain advantage. He moved steadily through the men's field over the course of the race, climbing from 7th to 4th among all men by the midpoint and holding that position to the finish. His 8:37/mi average across 46 kilometers of mountain terrain was the class of the field, and his Village→Snow King 2 segment ranked among the fastest in the entire men's race.

Behind him, the real drama was between Handel and Aziz. Handel, racing with clear motivation after his 2024 result, was relentless in the back half — his High Camp 2→Finish split was the 4th-fastest among all men on that segment. Aziz, meanwhile, posted the 3rd-fastest men's split on Siberia 2→High Camp 2 to keep the pressure on. The two were separated by just 65 seconds at the finish, a gap that reflects a genuine chase rather than a comfortable cruise. David Norris in 4th (4:20:36, 9:07/mi) had run aggressively early — reaching as high as 7th among men — before fading slightly in the final segments, finishing 6:01 behind Aziz.

The field of 52 finishers stretched deep into the afternoon, with 10th-place Brian Atkinson (4:49:21) and 11th-place Robbie Britton of Coggiola, Italy (4:57:17) among those who ground out the cold, wet, wind-buffeted course. Cool temperatures and light rain kept conditions manageable, but 46 kilometers of Tahoe skyline terrain has a way of finding everyone's limits eventually.