M45-49: Clarke Runs Away from a Deep Field at CIM

• Tom Clarke, 47, wins M45-49 in 2:28:07 (5:39/mi), a dominant performance that put nearly four minutes between him and runner-up Philippe Rolly's 2:32:17.
• Ken Rideout's late fade was the race's most dramatic storyline: running as high as 113th among men through 10K, he slipped to 200th by the finish — dropping from 4th to 4th in M45-49 but bleeding time throughout the back half.
• Rolly and Carrington staged a strong closing surge — both posted top-165 splits among women on the 40K-to-finish stretch, with Rolly's 164th-fastest and Carrington's 112th-fastest closing splits helping them seal 2nd (2:32:17) and 3rd (2:34:11) respectively.
• 634 finishers made M45-49 one of the largest fields on the course, with the top 20 all breaking 2:53.

Tom Clarke ran a near-perfect race from start to finish. Entering the men's field around 177th at 5K, he methodically climbed to 141st by 40K — a steady, controlled advance that spoke to even pacing in ideal conditions (53°F, no wind). His 5:39/mi average held firm even as others around him wavered, and his 96th-fastest split among women on the 35K–40K stretch showed he was still pressing hard deep in the race. The four-minute gap he opened over Rolly by the finish line was no accident.

Behind Clarke, the podium battle was a story of two very different races. Philippe Rolly, 46, ran conservatively early — drifting back through the men's field from 179th to around 192nd before steadily clawing his way home to finish 2nd in 2:32:17. Boyd Carrington, 46, followed a similar arc, sliding as far back as 207th among men at 35K before rallying to 3rd in 2:34:11. Both men's late-race closing speed ultimately kept Ken Rideout, 47, off the podium — Rideout had looked like a genuine threat through 10K, running 113th among men, but he faded to 200th by the finish, his 2:34:29 landing him 4th by just 18 seconds behind Carrington.

The rest of the top 20 was a showcase of consistent masters running. Jason Tripp took 5th in 2:42:24, with Li Yi (2:44:38) and Bo Wang (2:45:12) slotting 6th and 7th in a tight cluster. From 9th through 12th — Capelli (2:47:44), Chvatal (2:47:59), Stein (2:48:12), and Montgomery (2:48:37) — the gaps were measured in seconds across a span of less than 55 seconds, a testament to how competitive the M45-49 field was at CIM 2018.