M75-79: Petrovic Dominates as Twelve Septuagenarians Conquer Sacramento

• Victor Petrovic wins the M75-79 age group in 3:39:22 (8:22/mi), finishing nearly 49 minutes clear of second place.
• Closest battle of the day: John Ishikawa (3rd, 4:40:39) and Richard Hernandez (4th, 4:48:16) were separated by 7:37, while Hernandez and Dave Jacobs-Robinson (5th, 4:50:33) were just 2:17 apart.
• Andrzej Jonca crossed 6th in 5:00:05 — just five seconds past the five-hour mark.
• Tim Hicks, at 79 the oldest finisher in the group, completed the course in 6:11:22 — every one of the 12 starters crossed the line.

Victor Petrovic made this look like a different race entirely. The 75-year-old from Calgary posted a 3:39:22 at 8:22 per mile — a pace that would be respectable in almost any age group — and his moves through the men's field tell the story of a controlled, relentless effort. He advanced steadily from his early position all the way through 40K, never wavering, and his 25K–30K split ranked among the stronger segments in a field of thousands. The margin over runner-up Scott Lennox (4:28:08) was 48 minutes and 46 seconds. That's not a race; that's a statement.

Behind Lennox, the M75-79 field offered real drama. John Ishikawa made the trip from Honolulu and finished 3rd in 4:40:39, posting one of the group's stronger late-race splits between 35K and 40K. Lennox actually ran a comparable split on that same segment, meaning both men were still finding legs deep into the Sacramento miles — a cool, lightly rainy morning that likely helped keep the pace honest for the back half.

The middle of the field was a study in grinding resolve. Richard Hernandez, racing in his home city of Sacramento, finished 4th in 4:48:16, and Dave Jacobs-Robinson of San Diego was just 2:17 behind him in 5th at 4:50:33. Andrzej Jonca from Beaverton just missed a sub-five-hour finish, crossing 6th in 5:00:05.

The final five finishers — pat matthews (7th, 5:45:18) through Tim Hicks (12th, 6:11:22) — spread across a 26-minute window, with Bruce Mauldin (8th, 5:59:12), James Geary (9th, 6:00:33), Delbert Giese (10th, 6:00:45), and Steven Polansky (11th, 6:04:17) bunched within five minutes of each other. Hicks, the group's eldest at 79, closed it out in 6:11:22. All twelve finished. On a rainy December morning in Sacramento, that's worth noting.