M30-34 at CIM 2021: McCann Runs Away With It

• Andrew McCann wins M30-34 in 2:18:32 (5:17/mi), finishing 2 minutes 23 seconds clear of runner-up Sean Welleck (2:20:55).
• Welleck and Christopher Yates separated by just 8 seconds — 2:20:55 vs. 2:21:03 — for second and third in a field of 639.
• McCann climbed from 40th to 24th among men over the second half of the race, posting the 15th-fastest men's split on the 30K–40K stretch.
• Matt Hensley (4th, 2:22:12) ran the opposite arc, sitting as high as 32nd among men early before gradually fading to 39th by the finish.

Andrew McCann came to Sacramento and turned a mild December morning — 57°F, barely a breeze — into a personal showcase. Running 5:17 per mile across 26.2 miles, he crossed in 2:18:32 to claim the M30-34 title by a comfortable margin. The race unfolded as a steady climb through the men's field: McCann was sitting 40th among men at 15K but had surged to 24th by the finish, with his strongest relative push coming on the 30K–40K segment, where he posted the 15th-fastest men's split of the day on that stretch.

Behind him, second and third place produced the sharpest drama of the age group. Sean Welleck of Seattle ran 2:20:55 at 5:22/mi, holding a composed line through the men's field — moving from 39th to 32nd — while Hillsboro's Christopher Yates ran 2:21:03 at 5:23/mi, surging late to post the 31st-fastest men's split on the second half. Eight seconds separated them at the line; Welleck takes silver, Yates bronze.

Fourth-place Matt Hensley of Superior, CO told a different story. He was the strongest M30-34 runner in the men's field early, sitting 32nd among men at 5K, but gradually ceded ground as the miles accumulated, finishing 39th among men in 2:22:12 (5:25/mi). Alex Gladley rounded out the top five in 2:23:17, charging from 64th among men at 15K all the way to 46th by the tape — one of the more impressive second-half climbs in the group.

The depth in M30-34 was real: seven runners broke 2:25, and the top 20 were all within 10 minutes of the winner. Joseph Darda (6th, 2:24:09), Samuel Montclair (7th, 2:24:59), and Zebulon Hanley (8th, 2:25:07) led a dense mid-pack that made every position hard-won across all 639 finishers.