M70-74 at Chicago 13.1: Jungwirth Controls the Back Half to Win

• Robert Jungwirth won the M70-74 group in 2:01:14, averaging 9:15/mi — nearly two minutes clear of runner-up Laureano Galan (2:03:13).
• Galan ran the fastest first half in the group but faded sharply, dropping from 2nd among men to a much deeper position by the finish line.
• Otto Aldana posted the strongest closing segment among the top five, climbing from 5th to a more competitive position with the best 15K-to-finish split in that tier.
• 22 finishers completed the M70-74 race, with finish times ranging from Jungwirth's 2:01:14 to just over three hours at the back.

Robert Jungwirth of Downers Grove made his move where it counts. He entered the final stretch of the race — the 15K to finish segment — already in the lead and kept pressing, steadily advancing through the men's field from his position at that checkpoint all the way to the tape. His 9:15/mi average held firm when others around him were beginning to crack, and the result was a convincing win in the M70-74 group by 1:59 over second place.

Laureano Galan of Cicero told a very different story. He was running strong through the first half, sitting well up in the men's field, but the back half unraveled. By the finish, he had slipped considerably through the men's standings — a stark contrast to his early positioning. He still claimed second in M70-74 with a 2:03:13, but the gap to Jungwirth tells you where the race was decided.

Third place went to Tom Worniak of Glen Ellyn in 2:09:04, a consistent if unspectacular effort — his men's field position barely shifted across checkpoints, suggesting a steady, even-effort race rather than a tactical surge. Behind him, Riaz Uddin (2:13:59) and Otto Aldana (2:14:57) were separated by just 58 seconds for 4th and 5th, with Aldana actually the stronger finisher of the two over the closing miles. The rest of the 22-man field spread across a wide range, from Antonio Tavares's 2:22:46 in 6th to finishers still working through the course past the three-hour mark — a reminder of how much ground 13.1 miles covers at any pace.