Long Beach Marathon: Christopher Ott Controls Wire to Wire

• Christopher Ott won in 2:59:01 (6:50/mi), holding 1st place from start to finish and posting the fastest split on the 5.5M→13.1M middle segment.
• Edgar Castro was a steady runner-up throughout, finishing in 3:22:26 — 23:25 back of Ott but never challenged for position after the opening miles.
• Mik Poulin (4:07:17) was the race's most notable mover, climbing from 5th to 4th with the 3rd-fastest 13.1M→20M split — passing Kendall Oshiro-Hernandez (4:22:55), who had held 4th through the halfway point.
• The field of 8 spanned over 2:45 from first to last, with Nasim Karimi closing in 5:44:12 (13:08/mi).

Christopher Ott was never threatened. The 35-year-old from Kennesaw, GA ran 6:50/mi and led from the gun, holding 1st place at every checkpoint en route to a 2:59:01 finish. His grip on the race was reinforced in the middle stretch — his 5.5M→13.1M split was the fastest in this field, a segment where the race's order largely crystallized.

Edgar Castro (3:22:26, 7:43/mi) and Jess Clark (3:45:53, 8:37/mi) were equally locked in at 2nd and 3rd respectively, never trading places across the entire race. Castro's 7:43/mi average held him comfortably ahead of Clark, whose 8:37/mi pace was consistent enough to keep 3rd secure all the way to the finish.

The one genuine reshuffling happened behind them. Mik Poulin of Saint Louis ran the 13.1M→20M segment as the 3rd-fastest in the field on that stretch, and it was enough to move past Kendall Oshiro-Hernandez. Poulin crossed in 4:07:17 (9:26/mi) for 4th; Oshiro-Hernandez, who had held that spot through the half, finished 5th in 4:22:55 (10:02/mi) — a 15:38 gap between them at the line.

Daisy Aquino (5:15:27), Kaitlyn Quevedo (5:20:04), and Nasim Karimi (5:44:12) rounded out the eight finishers, separated by a combined 28:45 across the final three spots on a warm Long Beach morning.