M65-69 at CIM 2024: Bennatan Runs Away With It

• Andre Bennatan won the M65-69 group in 3:15:44 (7:28/mi), finishing 2:28 clear of runner-up Peter Danzell.
• The top five were separated by just 7:13 across 89 finishers, with three men — Goldsmith, de Echavarri Gonzalez, and Sweney — packed within 1:50 of each other for positions 3–5.
• Peter Goldsmith ran the early miles aggressively but faded: he entered the men's field around 1,580th and drifted back to 1,961st by the finish, while Bennatan moved the opposite direction, climbing from roughly 2,336th to 1,728th among men across the race.
• Wayne Crowe of Comox, BC was the oldest finisher in the top ten at 69, clocking 3:26:41 (7:53/mi) for 7th.

Andre Bennatan set the tone early and never let up. Starting conservatively among the men's field, he steadily reeled in runners throughout — gaining over 600 places among men from start to finish — and crossed in 3:15:44 at a crisp 7:28 per mile. That pace, sustained over 26.2 miles on a mild Sacramento morning, was simply a class above the rest of the M65-69 field.

Peter Danzell gave chase and finished a solid 2nd in 3:18:12, but the gap to Bennatan was clear and comfortable. The real drama was in the fight for the final podium spot. Peter Goldsmith came out fast — he was well ahead of Danzell in the men's field through the first 15K — but couldn't hold it, eventually finishing 3rd in 3:21:07. Jose Antonio de Echavarri Gonzalez, making the trip from Puebla, Mexico, closed strongly over the final 10K to land 4th in 3:21:44, just 37 seconds back. Brian Sweney of Chicago rounded out the top five in 3:22:57, having run a notably negative trajectory — he was deep in the men's field early and worked his way forward across the second half.

Further back, the depth of the group was on display. Daniel Lillyman (6th, 3:26:00) and Wayne Crowe (7th, 3:26:41) ran nearly identical races, separated by just 41 seconds. Soohan Kim, one of three 69-year-olds in the top ten, held his own at 10th in 3:33:54. Across all 89 finishers, the M65-69 group showed that fast, competitive marathon running doesn't stop at 65.