M25-29: Max Storms Wins a Razor-Sharp Age-Group Battle in Sacramento

• Storms takes it in 2:17:33 (5:15/mi), winning the M25-29 group by 22 seconds over Charles Remillard's 2:17:55.
• Top four separated by just 54 seconds — Storms, Remillard (2:17:55), Julian Heninger (2:18:23), and Garret Lee (2:18:27) all finished within a single minute.
• Aaron Dinzeo's charge: starting well outside the top 100 among men, he climbed all the way to 31st among men by the finish — the biggest surge in the top five.
• Deep field: 442 men finished in M25-29, with the top 10 all clocking under 2:20.

Cold, damp Sacramento — 56°F, light rain, and 90% humidity — set the stage for a grinding, tactical race through the M25-29 age group. Max Storms of San Francisco ran the most composed race of anyone near the front, moving steadily from 37th among men at the first checkpoint all the way to 12th by the 40K mark. He crossed in 2:17:33 at a 5:15/mi clip, and his 35K-to-40K split was the 8th-fastest among men on that segment — a well-timed push that sealed the win.

Charles Remillard (Denver) gave chase and finished just 22 seconds back in 2:17:55, posting the 13th-fastest men's split on that same 35K–40K stretch. His trajectory through the field was less linear than Storms' — drifting as far back as 45th among men at the halfway point before rallying hard — but he found another gear late and nearly closed the gap entirely. Julian Heninger (Lake Oswego) rounded out the podium in 2:18:23, his best segment coming early: the 14th-fastest men's split on the 10K–15K stretch hinted at an aggressive opening that he managed to sustain all the way to third.

Garret Lee (Littleton) finished fourth in 2:18:27 — just four seconds off the podium — and Aaron Dinzeo (Providence) completed a remarkable comeback in fifth at 2:18:35. Dinzeo was 132nd among men at the opening checkpoint and kept climbing checkpoint by checkpoint, posting the 22nd-fastest men's split from the half to 25K as part of his long surge. Behind the top five, Jacob Andrews (2:18:42), Henry Sterling (2:18:45), and John Bleday (2:19:04) kept the pressure honest, with all eight men in the top nine finishing under 2:19:10 — a testament to just how competitive the M25-29 group was on a tough December morning.