Masters Men: Tesfaye Wosene Blazes to a Dominant Win in Long Beach

• Wosene wins in 1:53:56 — a 4:21/mi average that left the rest of the Masters Men field in a different race entirely.
• 12-minute gap to 2nd: Juan Pablo Saldaña ran 2:06:34 to claim the runner-up spot, with Runner Unknown (2:02:00, 4:39/mi) slotting in 3rd after a remarkable late surge.
• The late charge: Runner Unknown moved from 53rd among men to 12th on the final segment, posting the 3rd-fastest men's split on the 13.1M→20M stretch — the biggest position swing in the top 20.
• Local presence: Five of the top 20 Masters Men call Long Beach or nearby South Bay cities home, including 9th-place Andrew Nguyen (2:16:47) and 13th-place Patrick Mobers (2:16:45), both Long Beach runners.

Tesfaye Wosene, 44, from Temecula, delivered one of the most commanding Masters Men performances Long Beach has seen. Running a 4:21/mi average over 26.2 miles in 72°F heat and 73% humidity, he finished in 1:53:56 — a time that would turn heads in any open field. His mid-race movement was striking: he tracked as high as 3rd among men before settling into 5th by the final checkpoint, yet his margin over the rest of the Masters field was never in doubt. He also posted the 2nd-fastest men's split on the 5.5M→13.1M segment, showing he wasn't coasting through the middle miles.

The race for 2nd and 3rd told a different story. Juan Pablo Saldaña, 47, from Los Angeles, ran a steady 4:50/mi to finish in 2:06:34, holding his position consistently through each checkpoint. But the drama belonged to the unnamed 90-year-old in 3rd — who was as far back as 53rd among men at the halfway point before rocketing through the back half. His 3rd-fastest men's split on the 13.1M→20M stretch powered a charge that landed him on the podium at 2:02:00, a full 4:34 ahead of 4th-place Naoki Kato (2:08:23, 4:54/mi).

Behind the podium, the competition was tight and the field deep. Efrain Gonzalez (5th, 2:11:34) and John Cronise (8th, 2:11:24) ran nearly identical finish times — Cronise edging him by 10 seconds despite Gonzalez posting a faster split on the 13.1M→20M segment, meaning Gonzalez made up ground late but couldn't quite complete the pass. Saul Palacios (7th, 2:12:26) and Gabriel Mateo (12th, 2:12:29) were separated by just three seconds. With 862 finishers in the Masters Men field, the depth here was real — and the front of it was genuinely fast.