M65-69 at CIM 2019: David Mart Runs Away With It

• David Mart (67, Haymarket, VA) won the M65-69 group in 3:31:21 — an 8:04/mi pace through 56°F drizzle and wind.
• Second and third were separated by just 11 seconds: Jorge Pesqueira finished in 3:35:09 and Gerhard Fischer in 3:35:20.
• Chris Enfante (4th, 3:38:53) was the strongest closer in the top five, working his way up steadily through the men's field across the final stretches of the race.
• 69 men aged 65–69 finished, with the top 20 all coming in under 4:16.

David Mart set the tone from the gun. Racing at 8:04 per mile through the light rain and 9 mph headwind on Sacramento's flat course, he built a lead that held all the way to the tape — his 3:31:21 was nearly four minutes clear of anyone else in the M65-69 group. His position in the men's field fluctuated through the middle miles but tightened back up in the final stretch, a sign he ran a disciplined, measured race rather than fading at the end.

Behind him, the battle for second and third was as close as it gets without being a dead heat. Jorge Pesqueira of Querétaro, Mexico crossed in 3:35:09 to claim second, with Gerhard Fischer of Roseville, CA finishing just 11 seconds later at 3:35:20 for third. Fischer had actually been moving well through the men's field from 25K to 30K, but Pesqueira had the stronger close, recording a solid 40K-to-finish split to hold him off.

Fourth-place Chris Enfante (3:38:53), racing on home turf in Sacramento, was one of the more compelling movers in the group — he spent much of the race buried deep in the men's field before progressively working his way forward over the final 20 kilometers. Richard Powers rounded out the top five in 3:41:52, with Craig McDow (6th, 3:49:53) and Tony Tuttle (7th, 3:51:51) leading a cluster of finishers between 3:49 and 3:54. All told, 13 men in the M65-69 group broke four hours on a damp December morning in Sacramento.