Handcycle Male: De los Santos Seizes Command and Never Lets Go

• Alfredo De los Santos won in 1:09:49 (2:40/mi avg), the fastest handcycle men's time on the day by more than eight minutes.
• Zachary Stinson took 2nd in 1:17:49 — owner of the fastest men's split on the 5K→10K segment — finishing 8:00 behind the winner.
• Kevin Hillery rounded out the podium in 1:26:32, with Andrew Hairston (4th, 1:32:16) and Jeff Chaffin (5th, 1:32:57) separated by just 41 seconds in a tight late-race battle.
• Latseen Benson (6th, 1:33:47) and John Masson (7th, 1:33:52) were just five seconds apart at the line — one of the tightest gaps in the 42-finisher field.

The handcycle men's race through the streets of Washington D.C. and Arlington on a crisp, 44°F morning was defined early by a fluid lead that took more than half the race to resolve. Alfredo De los Santos of Hopewell Junction, NY, didn't start at the front — he was sitting third at the first checkpoint, then second, before surging into the lead by the midpoint and never relinquishing it. His 2:40/mi average tells the story: dominant, relentless, and fastest among the men on the pivotal 25K→30K segment where he made his decisive move.

Zachary Stinson of Chambersburg, PA, ran his own aggressive race. He briefly held the men's lead after the 5K→10K segment — where he posted the fastest men's split of anyone on that stretch — before De los Santos reasserted himself. Stinson held on for 2nd in 1:17:49, a full eight minutes adrift of the winner but a comfortable margin ahead of 3rd-place Kevin Hillery (1:26:32), the Alexandria local who made it a clean podium.

Behind the podium, the real drama unfolded in the 30K→34.3K segment. Andrew Hairston of Jacksonville, NC, had been languishing in 7th or 8th for most of the race before posting the 3rd-fastest men's split on that stretch and climbing to 4th by the finish in 1:32:16. Jeff Chaffin of Cypress, TX, was even more aggressive on that same segment — 2nd-fastest men's split — but couldn't quite hold position, sliding from 4th to 5th (1:32:57) by the line. The final 41-second gap between them belies just how hard both were pushing in those closing miles.

Further back, Benson (6th, 1:33:47) and Masson (7th, 1:33:52) engaged in a five-second photo finish of their own, with Michael Brooks (8th, 1:37:20) and Kevin Dubois (9th, 1:37:32) separated by just 12 seconds — a cluster of competitive racing that stretched well into the field of 42 finishers navigating one of the world's most iconic marathon courses.