M40-44: James Lloyd Runs Down the Field in Kaua'i's Heat

• James Lloyd won the M40-44 group in 3:22:40 (7:44/mi), more than seven minutes clear of runner-up Blain Bucao.
• Lloyd climbed from 13th to 7th among men over the course of the race, posting the 10th-fastest closing split (24.15 Mile→Finish) in the women's field — a strong late surge in 77°F humidity.
• Third through fifth in M40-44 were separated by just 6:31 across three finishers, with David Bierman, Adam Shaffer, and Piotr Kaszkur all clocking between 3:37 and 3:44.
• The M40-44 group spread wide at the back: 19 finishers, ranging from Lloyd's 3:22:40 to John Samson's 6:56:57.

James Lloyd, a 40-year-old from nearby Koloa, controlled this race from the front and pulled away as it mattered. He entered the men's field at 13th early on, climbed steadily through the middle miles, and had cracked the top 7 among men by halfway — a position he held all the way to the tape. His 7:44/mi average on a warm, humid Kaua'i morning was the class of the M40-44 field by a comfortable margin.

Blain Bucao had a strong middle stretch, moving from 14th to 10th among men through the first half, but couldn't quite sustain the pace. He finished second in M40-44 at 3:29:57 — solid work, but Lloyd had already built too much of a cushion. Behind Bucao, David Bierman put together one of the more impressive finishes in the group: he was 38th among men at the first checkpoint but climbed all the way to 17th by the finish, backing it up with the 6th-fastest closing split among the women's field on that final stretch. Adam Shaffer was consistent throughout, hovering between 20th and 22nd among men all day before finishing 4th in M40-44 at 3:38:31.

The back half of the M40-44 field told a different story — one of grinding through Kaua'i's humidity. Kyle Otsuka, Reed Arrott, and Tobias Brockmann held the middle ground, while the final five finishers ranged from 5:19 to nearly seven hours. Every one of the 19 men who started got to the finish line, which, in these conditions, is its own kind of result.