M65-69: Melnitcki Breaks the Tape in 3:01 at CIM

• Benny Melnitcki, 67, wins M65-69 in 3:01:03 — a 6:54/mi average on a cool, damp Sacramento morning.
• David Maley closes hard: finishing 2nd in 3:03:33 (7:00/mi), Maley moved from well back in the men's field over the final 2.2 miles to cut into Melnitcki's cushion — but the 2:30 gap at the line held.
• Paul Hughes, 68, earns the final podium spot in 3:11:23 (7:18/mi), finishing nearly 8 minutes back of Melnitcki.
• 18 of 82 finishers broke 3:50 in M65-69, with places 18 and 19 separated by just one second (3:50:31 vs. 3:50:32).

Benny Melnitcki, racing from Kiryat Ono, Israel, turned in the standout performance of the M65-69 field on a classic CIM morning — 46°F, overcast, barely a breeze. His 6:54/mi average held up across the full 26.2, and while his position among the broader men's field drifted slightly in the middle miles, he never ceded the group lead. At 67, he was neither the oldest nor the youngest man on the M65-69 podium, but he was clearly the sharpest on this day.

David Maley of Chicago made the race's most notable late move. After sitting well back in the men's field through 35K, Maley ran the strongest final segment among the top finishers in this group — his 40K-to-finish split was among the faster closers in the broader field. That surge brought him home in 3:03:33, 2:30 behind Melnitcki. He ran it at 7:00/mi, a clearly slower average than the winner's 6:54, but the closing acceleration made the gap at least feel closer than the middle miles suggested it would be.

Paul Hughes, 68, of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, was steady through 35K before a slightly stronger 35K–40K segment helped him cement 3rd in 3:11:23. Behind him, Sean O'Mahony (3:22:04) and Terry Whelan (3:24:25) rounded out the top five, both showing late-race strength as they climbed through the men's field in the final miles. Peter Hsia (3:26:28) and Mac Imacseng, the group's eldest at 69, followed in 6th and 7th respectively, with Imacseng finishing in 3:31:55.

The back half of the top 20 was tightly packed, none more so than the 18th-through-20th-place cluster: Pip Smith (3:50:31), Andrew Stone (3:50:32), and Jonathan Mayes (3:50:43) — three men separated by just 12 seconds after more than three and a half hours of racing. Across all 82 finishers in M65-69, the depth was real.