Iron Face Challenge M30-39: Cirstoveanu edges Runes in a 20-second thriller

• Daniel Cirstoveanu (Bucharest, ROU) wins M30-39 in 1:15:38 at 15:08/mi — the only finisher to break 1:16.
• Emmanuel Runes (San Diego, CA) pushes him all the way, crossing 2nd in 1:15:58 — just 20 seconds back.
• William Nguyen rounds out the podium in 1:16:49, completing a tight top-three spread of just 1:11.
• A 15-finisher M30-39 field split cleanly in two: places 1–6 all finished under 1:26, while places 7–15 ranged from 1:41 to 2:13.

At 91°F and high on the Palisades skyline — somewhere between 6,200 and 7,200 feet above sea level — the Iron Face Challenge had every reason to punish the M30-39 field, and for most it did. But at the front, Daniel Cirstoveanu from Bucharest and Emmanuel Runes from San Diego turned the five miles into a genuine race. Cirstoveanu took the win in 1:15:38, averaging 15:08 per mile on terrain that demands every second of that pace. Runes, at 15:12/mi, gave him no room to relax — the 20-second margin between them was the tightest gap anywhere in the field.

William Nguyen (Menlo Park, CA) finished 3rd in 1:16:49, keeping the podium genuinely competitive: the top three were separated by just 71 seconds across five mountain miles. Jonathan Dawson came home 4th in 1:19:22 — already 2:33 off the pace — and Nicholas Wankowicz claimed 5th in 1:22:05. James Precit, at 1:25:27, closed out the lead pack in 6th.

Then came a real gap. Michael Drumm arrived 7th in 1:40:59, nearly 16 minutes behind Precit, opening a stretch of the field where the thin air and the heat clearly took their toll. Jack Oldham (8th, 1:41:56), Owen Barrett (9th, 1:43:42), and Andrew Bower (10th, 1:44:55) ran in a tight cluster through the back half of the top ten. Julian Soto (11th, 1:49:07), Matt Vangent (12th, 1:53:48), and Charles Lilly (13th, 1:56:50) followed, with Nathan Spangler (14th, 2:10:13) and Byamba Ulziisaikhan (15th, 2:12:49) finishing just over two hours and twelve minutes — a hard-earned crossing at any altitude.