M70-74: Jacob Nur Breaks Three Hours at 70

• Jacob Nur wins in 2:59:00 (6:50/mi), the only M70-74 finisher to crack three hours — a 27:18 margin over runner-up Steven Plakas.
• Plakas moves steadily through the men's field from his opening position all the way to 2,245th among men by the finish, logging a 3:26:18 at 7:52/mi.
• Paul Kinsey (3:32:34) and Steve Yee (3:34:39) are separated by just over two minutes for 3rd and 4th, with Rainer Schochat (3:36:22) close behind in 5th.
• The field spans nearly 3:22 from Nur's 2:59:00 to Ben Clausen's 6:20:40, with 20 men aged 70–74 finishing on a cool, overcast Sacramento morning.

Jacob Nur, 70, delivered the defining performance of the M70-74 group — a sub-three-hour marathon at 6:50/mi that stands alone in this field. His race wasn't without drama, though: his position among men drifted from 1,211th at the first checkpoint all the way back to 1,330th mid-race, before he surged decisively, climbing back to 1,074th by the finish. That 35K–40K segment was his sharpest, ranking 807th among all men on that stretch — a clear sign of where Nur found another gear while others were fading.

Steven Plakas, 73, from Mobile, Alabama, was the picture of a steady, disciplined marathon. He gained ground on the men's field at every single checkpoint — from 2,672nd at the first mark to 2,245th at the line — and his 3:26:18 at 7:52/mi was a clear, comfortable second. Paul Kinsey (3rd, 3:32:34, 8:06/mi) and Steve Yee (4th, 3:34:39, 8:11/mi) ran a quiet battle for the final podium spot, with Kinsey holding firm. Rainer Schochat rounded out the top five in 3:36:22 (8:15/mi), his strongest segment coming late — the 40K-to-finish stretch was his best relative showing of the day.

Michael Castillo finished 6th in 3:46:06 and Robert Montgomery 7th in 3:56:21, before the field spread considerably through the back half. Changming Shih (8th, 4:18:17), Steve Rosenberg (9th, 4:30:32), and John Voorhis (10th, 4:31:35) led a group of finishers clustered in the 4:30s, while Ben Clausen closed out the M70-74 group in 6:20:40 — every one of these 20 men completing 26.2 miles on a brisk December morning in Sacramento.