M30-34 at CIM 2024: Steven Kool Runs Down the Field to Win

• Steven Kool won the M30-34 group in 2:18:30 (5:17/mi), finishing 38 seconds clear of runner-up Oscar Viquez.
• John Vodacek made the most dramatic move of the race, climbing from outside the top 100 among men at the start to 4th in M30-34 by the finish — and posted the 12th-fastest split among women on the final 40K-to-finish stretch.
• The podium spread just 2:00 across three finishers: Kool (2:18:30), Viquez (2:19:08), Dillon Breen (2:20:30).
• 998 men finished in M30-34, with the top 20 all breaking 2:32.

Steven Kool's win wasn't a wire-to-wire cruise — it was a grind and a surge. He entered the back half of the race sitting 47th among men before steadily reeling in competitors through the final 20 kilometers, moving from 41st to 37th to 31st and ultimately 29th among men by the finish line. His strongest stretch came late: his 35K-to-40K split ranked 15th among women in the field, a burst of speed that likely sealed the M30-34 title. At 5:17/mi for 26.2 miles in mild but humid Sacramento conditions, it was a controlled and clinical performance.

Oscar Viquez of San Jose ran a remarkably consistent race, hovering between 38th and 42nd among men from start to finish before landing 38th at the line. His 2:19:08 (5:18/mi) was good enough for second, and his closing 40K-to-finish split ranked 25th among women — meaning he was pressing hard at the end. Dillon Breen rounded out the podium in 2:20:30, never straying far from his position throughout the race.

The subplot worth watching was John Vodacek. Starting well back — 111th among men at the first checkpoint — he ran one of the most relentless progressions of the day, moving to 71st, then 66th, 61st, 52nd, and finally 49th among men at the finish. His 4th-place M30-34 result in 2:22:13 came with the 12th-fastest split among women on the closing segment, a finishing kick that nearly caught Marc-Antoine Rouleau and Karl Augsten, who finished 5th and 6th just 24 seconds ahead of him combined.