M45-49: Spallanzani Runs Away With It in Chicago

• Carlos Spallanzani won the M45-49 group in 1:19:53 (6:06/mi), finishing more than 3½ minutes clear of runner-up Benjamin Seigle (1:23:28).
• Seigle and Drew Mitchell battled hard for the podium, separated by just 14 seconds — 1:23:28 to 1:23:42.
• Grzegorz Zeleszkiewicz made one of the day's most notable moves, climbing from 110th among men at the first checkpoint all the way to 87th by the finish to claim 4th in M45-49 at 1:24:19.
• The top five all finished under 1:26, while 6th-place Javier Mayorga (1:28:02) was the first man into the next tier — a gap of nearly 2½ minutes behind Silvestre Montes.

Carlos Spallanzani, representing Leon, Guatemala, was simply in a different race. His 6:06/mi average held remarkably steady across checkpoints — he never drifted far from 48th–51st among the men throughout — and his final push brought him back to 48th among men at the tape. In a field of 187 in the M45-49 group, that kind of consistency over 13.1 miles in 74°F heat with a 12 mph wind is what a winning margin of 3:35 looks like.

Behind him, the real drama was Seigle versus Mitchell. Seigle (Chicago, IL) ran a disciplined race, steadily climbing from 88th among men at the 5K mark to 77th by the finish. Mitchell (Oak Park, IL) had the opposite story — he was 61st among men early and gradually faded to 80th, but his early speed was enough to hold 3rd at 1:23:42. Those 14 seconds between them were earned over every mile.

Zeleszkiewicz deserves a special mention. Starting 110th among men, he was methodical and relentless — 101st at the next check, 98th, 88th, and finally 87th at the line — to finish 4th in M45-49 at 1:24:19. Silvestre Montes (5th, 1:25:26) ran the inverse, sliding from 71st among men to 92nd, but still held on for a top-five finish. Twelve finishers in the M45-49 group broke 1:30, a strong collective showing on a warm Chicago morning.