M80+ Marathon: An Age-Defying Field Delivers at Long Beach

• Winner finishes in 2:48:39 at a 6:26/mi average pace — a remarkable effort that moved from 43rd to 25th among women in the women's field by miles 20–26.2.
• 13 finishers completed the full 26.2 miles in the M80+ field, ranging from 2:48:39 to 7:37:21.
• Armando Soto (Granada Hills, CA) crossed 7th in 5:38:29 — one of two named finishers in the field alongside Hoo Chung.
• Hoo Chung (Los Angeles, CA) closed out the M80+ field in 13th at 7:37:21, a 17:27/mi pace across 26.2 miles at age 86.

The M80+ field at Long Beach 2025 was something to behold: 13 athletes, none younger than 81, toeing the line on a warm October morning — 72°F, 73% humidity, a modest 7 mph breeze off the coast. The winner made it look almost effortless by comparison, running a 6:26/mi average to finish in 2:48:39. That's a pace most runners half that age would envy, and it showed in the women's standings: the winner climbed from 43rd among women at the first checkpoint all the way to 25th by the finish, posting the 16th-fastest women's split on the 13.1-to-20-mile stretch. A dominant, wire-to-wire performance.

The next four finishers — 2nd through 5th — each cracked the five-hour barrier, with 2nd place clocking 3:45:13 (8:35/mi) and 5th coming in at 4:52:10 (11:09/mi). That's a spread of over an hour across those four spots alone, yet every one of them was moving steadily through the women's field in the back half of the race. The 2nd-place finisher posted the 522nd-fastest women's split from mile 20 to the finish — a strong close that underscores how much ground was being made up in those final miles.

Armando Soto of Granada Hills, finishing 7th in 5:38:29, and Hoo Chung of Los Angeles, 13th in 7:37:21, are the two named athletes in this field — and both deserve their moment. Chung, at 86, covered every one of those 26.2 miles at 17:27/mi to bring it home. In a field defined by the sheer audacity of showing up and running a full marathon past the age of 80, that finish line is the whole story.