Jed Smith Ultra Classic 50K: Jankowski Dominates M70+

• Tony Jankowski, 73, wins M70+ in 6:25:41 (12:25/mi), finishing nearly 48 minutes clear of the field.
• Carl Jacob, 73, claims second in 7:13:52 — a 48:11 gap back to Jankowski, but a solid 39:36 ahead of third.
• Gary Aguiar and Eric Poulsen staged the race's closest battle: the 70-year-old from El Cerrito finished third in 7:53:28, just 17 seconds ahead of 74-year-old Eric Poulsen (7:53:45) in fourth.
• All four M70+ finishers completed a foggy, humid 50K in Sacramento — a genuine feat at any age.

Tony Jankowski made the M70+ race his own from the start. The 73-year-old from Concord navigated the damp, 93% humidity conditions at a 12:25/mi clip and was never seriously threatened, building a margin that ultimately stretched to nearly 48 minutes over second place. His gender standing fluctuated only between 28th and 30th throughout — a model of consistency across all six laps.

Carl Jacob, also 73 and hailing from Novato, held second place with equal steadiness, moving between 33rd and 36th in the broader men's field and finishing in 7:13:52. His 13:58/mi average tells the story of a measured, disciplined effort over 31 miles of foggy Sacramento roads. Jacob's late-race Lap 4-to-Lap 5 split was the 28th-fastest among men on that segment — a strong push to close out the day.

The real drama in M70+ unfolded at the back of the podium. Gary Aguiar, 70, from El Cerrito and Eric Poulsen, 74, from Sebastopol ran the final miles in lockstep. Aguiar crossed in 7:53:28 at a 15:14/mi average; Poulsen came home in 7:53:45 at 15:15/mi — just 17 seconds separating them after more than seven and a half hours of racing. Poulsen actually posted the 33rd-fastest men's split on the final Lap 5-to-Finish segment, suggesting he was pushing hard to close the gap, but Aguiar's earlier cushion — built in part with the 35th-fastest men's split on Lap 2-to-Lap 3 — proved just enough to hold third. Seventeen seconds. That's your M70+ podium battle on a cold, foggy January morning in Sacramento.