M75-79: Jin Taik Chung Leads an LA Sweep in Long Beach

• Jin Taik Chung, 78, wins in 3:41:49 (8:28/mi), taking the M75-79 title by 5 minutes and 23 seconds over Young Chon Chun.
• Three of four finishers hail from the greater Los Angeles area — Chung and Chun from LA proper, Dong Choe from Cerritos — with only Ronald Grusd (Sherman Oaks) rounding out the quartet.
• Chung surged through the back half, climbing from 2,749th to 2,382nd among men between the halfway point and mile 20 — a sustained move that put the race firmly in his hands.
• All four men finished, spanning a range of nearly 1 hour 21 minutes from first to fourth.

Jin Taik Chung, 78 years old, ran Long Beach like a man with a plan. He crossed in 3:41:49 at an 8:28/mi clip, and what makes that number more impressive is when he ran it — Chung's strongest stretch came in the second half of the race, where he posted the 2,172nd-fastest split among men between miles 13.1 and 20, steadily climbing through the field when others were fading in the 72°F humidity. That kind of late-race movement doesn't happen by accident.

Young Chon Chun, 76, had actually been the stronger runner early. His best split came on the 5.5M-to-13.1M segment, where he ranked 2,476th among men — but his gender place drifted from 2,251st to 2,493rd as the miles wore on, a sign that the back half cost him. He finished in 3:47:12 (8:40/mi), a solid effort and a clear second place, 5:23 behind Chung.

Dong Choe, 77, of Cerritos ran a strong negative trajectory through the field — improving from 3,336th to 2,881st among men by mile 20 — and finished third in 4:09:20 (9:31/mi). Ronald Grusd, 79, of Sherman Oaks closed out the M75-79 field in 5:02:42 (11:33/mi), holding a steady if measured pace across all 26.2 miles. Four men, four finishes — and at 75-to-79 years old, every one of them earned it.