M25-29: Julian Florez Runs Away from a Loaded Field

• Julian Florez (Albuquerque, NM) wins M25-29 in 2:16:06 (5:11/mi), finishing more than two minutes clear of the runner-up.
• Dylan Belles (2:18:11) and Chris Burnett (2:18:19) split 2nd and 3rd by just 8 seconds — the tightest battle on the podium.
• Justin Taylor finishes 4th in 2:18:34, meaning the top four are separated by only 28 seconds after 26.2 miles.
• The top 20 in a field of 438 are all under 2:27, signaling how deep and competitive this age group ran on a cool Sacramento morning.

Julian Florez, just 25 years old and representing Albuquerque, turned in a commanding 2:16:06 — a 5:11-per-mile average that left the rest of the M25-29 field well behind. His race unfolded as a study in patience and a devastating late surge. He sat around 55th–57th among the men through the first half, but from 35K onward he shifted gears decisively, climbing from 51st to 18th among the men by the finish. His 35K–40K split was the 11th-fastest of that segment in the entire men's field — the move that sealed it.

Dylan Belles (2:18:11, 5:16/mi) ran a similarly progressive race, moving from 81st among the men early to 37th by 40K before a slight fade to 43rd at the line — still good enough for 2nd in M25-29. Chris Burnett (2:18:19, 5:17/mi) took a different route: the Sacramento local was as high as 21st among the men through the early middle miles, then gradually ceded ground as the race wore on, arriving 3rd. Eight seconds separated them at the finish — a gap that must have felt enormous and tiny at once.

Justin Taylor (Columbus, OH) crossed 4th in 2:18:34, meaning the entire podium-plus-one was decided in a 28-second window. Lauri Takacsi-Nagy (Boulder, CO) rounded out the top five in 2:20:26, more than a minute back of Taylor but well clear of the chasing pack. From there, Raul Arcos (6th, 2:21:48) through Nicholas Spector (10th, 2:22:43) formed a tight cluster with just 55 seconds spanning five finishers — proof that the depth in M25-29 at CIM 2018 was no illusion across all 438 finishers.