M60-64 at California International Marathon: Ken Young edges a razor-thin duel at the top

• Ken Young wins in 2:55:54 (6:43/mi), becoming the fastest M60-64 finisher at CIM 2023 — with Chris Jungkans just 22 seconds back in 2:55:54… wait, 2:56:16.
• 22 seconds separated 1st from 2nd across 26.2 miles of racing — the closest battle at the top of the M60-64 field.
• Chundao Che rounded out the podium in 2:59:38, the only other finisher in the group to break three hours.
• 180 men finished in the M60-64 age group, with the top 20 alone spanning a range from 2:55:54 down to 3:30:46.

Ken Young of Calgary came to Sacramento and delivered the goods, winning the M60-64 age group in 2:55:54 at a 6:43-per-mile clip — a genuinely impressive effort at 64 years old. What made it dramatic was how close Chris Jungkans of Salem, Wisconsin ran him the entire way. Both men averaged an identical 6:43 per mile, and only 22 seconds separated them at the line after more than two and a half hours of racing. The moves data tells an interesting story: Young and Jungkans tracked each other through the men's field almost in lockstep all the way to 40K, with Young pulling fractionally clearer only in the final stretch to the finish.

Third place went to Chundao Che of Northville, Michigan, who crossed in 2:59:38 — the only other M60-64 runner to crack three hours. Che ran a notably strong 35K-to-40K segment, posting the 725th-fastest split on that stretch across the men's field, and his trajectory through the race was one of the most aggressive in the group: he was well back early but climbed steadily, moving from deep in the men's field all the way up to his eventual finishing position. That kind of sustained progression over the back half of a marathon is no accident.

Jim Weddell (3:06:48) and Raymond Rodriguez (3:07:21) filled out the top five, separated by just 33 seconds, with Jim O'Connor, Louis Moore, and Jianzhong Wang all clustered between 3:08 and 3:11 to make the depth of this age group genuinely impressive. On a mild Sacramento morning — 63°F with a light breeze — conditions were about as cooperative as a December marathon gets, and the M60-64 men made the most of it across a 180-finisher field.