M65-69: Soohan Kim Runs Away with Napa

• Soohan Kim, 67, wins in 3:34:37 (8:11/mi), finishing more than 14 minutes clear of the field.
• Des Walsh (2nd, 3:49:18) and Raymond Moran (3rd, 3:52:22) were separated by just 3:04 — the closest battle on the day.
• Gregory Lind (6th, 4:36:14) and Kurt Lohide (5th, 4:35:57) finished just 17 seconds apart, while David Smith (7th, 4:42:05) and Rodger Schwartz (8th, 4:42:23) were separated by a mere 18 seconds.
• Eighteen men aged 65–69 finished on a cold, clear Napa morning — 39°F with near-zero wind.

Soohan Kim of Tujunga was never seriously threatened. Running at 8:11/mi, he steadily climbed through the men's field across all three checkpoints — moving from 249th among men at the first marker all the way to 206th by the finish — and posted the 193rd-fastest men's split on the closing 20M-to-finish stretch. The 14:41 margin he built over Des Walsh is a commanding win by any measure in this field.

Behind Kim, the real drama was a two-man chase. Walsh (8:45/mi) posted the 220th-fastest men's split on the middle 13.1M-to-20M leg, which helped him hold off a fast-finishing Raymond Moran. Moran, who ran the 223rd-fastest men's split on the 20M-to-finish segment, climbed from 424th among men at the opening checkpoint all the way to 306th by the tape — the most dramatic upward move of anyone in this group. He closed the gap to 3:04 at the line, but Walsh had just enough.

The middle of the field produced its own tight racing. Lohide (5th, 4:35:57, 10:31/mi) and Lind (6th, 4:36:14, 10:32/mi) were virtually inseparable over 26.2 miles, while Smith (4:42:05) and Schwartz (4:42:23) replicated that closeness a few minutes further back. At the other end of the leaderboard, Wayne Jackson of Los Angeles closed out the field in 5:48:21 — a 13:17/mi effort that still represents 26.2 miles covered on a chilly March morning in Napa.