M75-79: Ruben Anton Runs Away With It in Sacramento

• Ruben Anton (age 76, Los Angeles) won the M75-79 group in 4:28:29 — a 10:14/mi pace that left the field nearly 27 minutes behind.
• Closest battle of the day: Goetz Klopfer (3rd, 5:18:12) and Tim Hicks (4th, 5:18:13) — separated by a single second after 26.2 miles.
• Azriel Kurlaender, at 79 the oldest finisher in the group, crossed in 5:41:03 — 7th among the eight men.
• Eight men finished the M75-79 group, ranging from Anton's 4:28:29 to John O'Neill's 6:34:36 — a spread of over two hours across the field.

Ruben Anton made it look straightforward. The 76-year-old from Los Angeles came through in 4:28:29 at a steady 10:14/mi, and his lead over the rest of the M75-79 field was never seriously threatened. He was moving through the men's field all the way to the 35K mark before a modest drift in the final stretch, finishing with a margin of nearly 27 minutes over runner-up Don Elliott (2nd, 4:55:18, 11:16/mi) of Menlo Park. Elliott, for his part, was a picture of negative-split discipline — steadily climbing through the men's field from the 40K mark to the finish, reeling in runners all the way to the tape.

The race's most gripping subplot played out deep in the field, where Goetz Klopfer (Eugene, OR) and Tim Hicks (Altaville, CA) ran each other to a near-standstill. Both clocked 5:18 and change — Klopfer's 5:18:12 edging Hicks's 5:18:13 by one second for 3rd place. Klopfer had been the stronger finisher over the 30K–35K stretch, while Hicks posted his best relative split between 35K and 40K, making it a genuine battle of specialists trading punches across the back half of the course.

Ronald Young (5th, 5:22:38) rounded out the top five out of Incline Village, NV, with Cyrus Rhode Jr (6th, 5:38:08) and Azriel Kurlaender (7th, 5:41:03) close behind. Kurlaender, at 79 the eldest of the eight, finished just under 2 minutes back of Rhode in a commendable 13:00/mi effort. John O'Neill (8th, 6:34:36) of Diamond Springs completed the group, taking 26.2 miles at a 15:03/mi pace to close out a full M75-79 field on a cool Sacramento morning.