M25-29 at CIM 2021: Piercy Runs Down the Field in the Back Half

• Matthew Piercy wins M25-29 in 2:15:40 (5:10/mi), the only finisher in the age group to break 2:16.
• Weston Strum and Roman Kirkov finished 2nd and 3rd in 2:17:05 and 2:17:22 — just 17 seconds separating them, with Connor Rockett another 32 seconds back in 4th at 2:17:54.
• Strum's late surge was the defining move of the race: he ran the 7th-fastest split in the men's field from 30K to 40K after sitting as far back as 28th among men at the halfway mark.
• 471 men finished in M25-29, with the top 20 all breaking 2:27.

Matthew Piercy came to Sacramento and delivered a controlled, measured performance. Starting 14th among men, he steadily climbed — reaching 10th by the 40K mark before settling to 11th at the line in 2:15:40, a 5:10-per-mile clip that no one else in M25-29 could match. His strongest stretch came between the half and 30K, where he posted the 7th-fastest split among men in the field over that segment, and he never let the race slip away from him once he found his rhythm.

Behind him, the battle for 2nd and 3rd was the most compelling subplot of the morning. Weston Strum (2:17:05) was not in contention through the first half — he sat 28th among men at both the halfway mark and 30K — but then unleashed the 7th-fastest men's split from 30K to 40K to rocket up the leaderboard and secure 2nd in M25-29. Roman Kirkov (2:17:22) ran a similar trajectory, climbing from 34th among men at the half all the way to 16th by 40K. Both men were barely visible at the midpoint and then simply ran through the field.

Connor Rockett rounded out the podium challengers in 4th at 2:17:54, also posting a strong Half-to-30K split — the 16th-fastest among men over that segment — to work his way steadily from 29th to 19th among men by the finish. Alex Archer in 5th (2:20:32) and Trevor Lafontaine in 6th (2:20:39) were separated by just seven seconds, with Benjamin Xie close behind in 7th at 2:20:55.