M40-44 at CIM 2019: Dailey Dominates in the Rain

• Adam Dailey (2:27:09, 5:37/mi) won the M40-44 group by 2:11 over Jose Merino — the largest gap anywhere on the podium.
• Positions 5 and 6 separated by just one second: Nicolas Paradis (2:31:38) edged Eric Hollander (2:31:39), with Ricardo Carrillo (2:31:41) two seconds further back — three men within three seconds.
• Ryan Kaiser (2:34:46) and Jesse Barragan (2:34:47) finished 12th and 13th, separated by a single second after 26.2 miles in the rain.
• 581 men finished in the M40-44 group, with the top 20 all breaking 2:41.

Sacramento delivered a damp, blustery morning — 56°F, light rain, and 9 mph wind — and Adam Dailey of La Jolla ran straight through it at 5:37 per mile. His 2:27:09 was a wire-to-wire statement; his moves data shows him sitting 22nd among men at the 10K before gradually settling into a steady groove that held all the way to the line. That 10K-to-15K stretch was sharp enough to register the 63rd-fastest split among women in the field on that segment — a measure of just how hard he was pushing early on a tough day.

Jose Merino (2:29:20) was the runner-up, crossing at 5:42 per mile and closing well — his 88th-fastest split among women on the 40K-to-finish segment tells the story of a man accelerating late. Chris Hooper of Calgary rounded out the podium in 2:30:34, posting the 151st-fastest split among women on the second half to move steadily through the field. Bryan Huberty (2:31:15, 4th) was similarly strong over the back half, recording the 197th-fastest women's split on that same stretch.

The race for 5th through 7th was genuinely breathless. Nicolas Paradis (2:31:38) — making the trip from Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec — held off Urbandale's Eric Hollander (2:31:39) by a single second, with Ricardo Carrillo of Castroville, Texas (2:31:41) arriving two ticks later. Three men, three seconds, three different time zones. Further back, Ryan Kaiser (2:34:46) and Jesse Barragan (2:34:47) ran shoulder-to-shoulder all the way to 12th and 13th — a one-second verdict after more than two and a half hours of racing in the rain.