M40-44: Lankford Runs Away with It in Sacramento

• Scott Lankford won the M40-44 group in 2:20:31 (5:22/mi), finishing more than four minutes clear of second place.
• The gap from 2nd to 3rd was just 10 seconds — Matthew Dewald (2:24:43) edging Chikara Omine (2:24:53) for the silver spot.
• Dewald's race was a dramatic comeback: he entered the men's field inside the top 30 at the start, faded to outside the top 200 by mid-race, then clawed all the way back to finish 2nd in M40-44.
• 820 men finished in the M40-44 group, with the top 20 all breaking 2:37.

Scott Lankford turned in one of the most commanding performances of the day in the M40-44 group. The Simi Valley runner ran 5:22 per mile from wire to wire, and his moves tell the story of a man who simply got stronger as others faded. He climbed from 134th among men at the opening checkpoint all the way to 53rd by 35K — a relentless, sustained surge through the second half of the race. He'd slip slightly in the closing miles but still crossed in 55th among men overall, a remarkable result for a 40-year-old on a warm December morning in Sacramento.

Behind him, the battle for second was anything but settled until late. Matthew Dewald of Dakota Dunes ran an almost perfectly inverse arc — blazing out in 26th among men at the first checkpoint, then watching his position erode through the middle miles as he slipped past 200th, before engineering a fierce comeback on the back half. His 59th-fastest split among men on the 35K–40K segment was the engine of that charge, and he ultimately reclaimed 2nd in M40-44. Local runner Chikara Omine of Sacramento was the model of consistency by contrast — holding a remarkably steady position throughout, landing just 10 seconds behind Dewald at the line. That gap is close enough to sting.

Simon Poulin (4th, 2:26:12) and Chip O'Hara (5th, 2:27:16) rounded out the top five, with Poulin posting the 97th-fastest split among men on the final 40K-to-finish stretch to secure his spot. The depth across the group was genuine — all 20 listed finishers broke 2:37, and with 820 men completing the race, the M40-44 field at CIM 2023 was as competitive as they come.