Masters Men at CIM: Prescott Leach Runs 2:17:27 to Take the Title

• Leach wins in 2:17:27 (5:15/mi), a full 3:04 clear of runner-up Scott Lankford — the largest gap on the podium.
• Lankford (2:20:31) to Hansen (2:24:49): places 2nd through 5th are separated by just 18 seconds, with Matthew Dewald (3rd, 2:24:43) and Kevin Hansen (4th, 2:24:49) finishing only 6 seconds apart.
• Nicolas Paradis, 48, finishes 8th in 2:29:02 — the oldest man in the top 10, running 5:41/mi against a field packed with 40- and 41-year-olds.
• Michael Wardian (49, 2:29:54) rounds out the top 10, with 11 of the top 20 finishers aged 40 or 41.

Prescott Leach of Waltham, MA was the story from start to finish — and then some. The 41-year-old ran 5:15/mi across 26.2 miles in Sacramento's mild December conditions and built his winning margin methodically. His gender place tells the tale: he moved from 54th among all men at 5K all the way up to 21st by the finish, a sustained, relentless climb through the field. His 30K–35K segment was the 15th-fastest women's split on that stretch — meaning he was running with, and past, elite women during that crucial middle stretch of the race.

Scott Lankford was no passenger in this race. The Simi Valley runner steadily worked his way through the men's field — 134th at 5K, 55th by the finish — and his 15K–Half split ranked 35th among all women on that segment, a sign he was genuinely flying through the middle miles. His 2:20:31 at 5:22/mi earns him a clear 2nd place. Behind him, the race for the podium was a different kind of drama: Dewald, Hansen, and Chikara Omine (5th, 2:24:53) were separated by just 10 seconds across three finishers. Dewald came in 3rd with a strong 35K–40K segment (59th-fastest women's split there), while Hansen had gotten out fast — 85th among men at 5K — before fading slightly to 4th.

The depth of this 2,581-finisher Masters Men field is striking. From Simon Poulin (6th, 2:26:12) through Doron Clark (20th, 2:35:00), the top 20 spans less than 18 minutes of racing. And the back end of that group features genuine standouts: Paradis and Wardian, both pushing 50, cracked the top 10 at paces that would humble runners half their age.