Fort Ord Trail Run 10K — M70-79: Tiffany Leads the Way

• Jim Tiffany, 71, wins M70-79 in 1:02:51 (10:07/mi avg), finishing ahead of the only other competitor in the age group.
• Patrick McNeill, 79, finishes 2nd in 1:26:19 (13:53/mi avg) — a 23:28 gap separating the two men.
• McNeill's closing split on Skyline→Finish was the 52nd-fastest among the men on that segment; Tiffany's was the 36th-fastest — both picking up places on the final stretch.

Just two men lined up in the M70-79 age group at Fort Ord on Saturday, but they represented a combined 150 years of life and the kind of stubbornness it takes to run trails in your eighth decade. Jim Tiffany, 71 and racing out of Seaside, came away with the win in 1:02:51 — a 10:07/mi clip that held up solidly across the course's mixed terrain under cool, breezy conditions.

Tiffany was the more aggressive presence throughout. His position among the men's field slipped from 11th to 26th as the race wore on, a sign that the course's back half extracted its toll — but he maintained enough momentum on the Skyline→Finish segment to post the 36th-fastest split on that stretch among the men, a respectable close.

Patrick McNeill, 79 years old and racing from Monterey, crossed in 1:26:19 at 13:53/mi — a measured effort that kept him moving to the line. He actually gained one place among the men on the closing segment, ticking from 55th to 54th, and his Skyline→Finish split ranked 52nd among the men. At 79, finishing a 10K trail run on a windy February morning is its own statement.

The gap between them was 23 minutes and 28 seconds, which tells you less about one man fading than it does about the eight years between them. Tiffany takes the M70-79 title; McNeill earns every bit of his 2nd-place finish.