Napa Valley Marathon M45-49: Morin Runs Down the Field in the Back Half

• Jesse Morin (San Rafael, CA) wins M45-49 in 3:01:09 (6:55/mi), the only finisher in the group to crack 3:02.
• 2:37 separates the top three — Morin (3:01:09), Hiroyuki Kubo (3:03:46), and Joseph Scheier-Dolberg (3:05:11) — but each got there differently.
• Keller and Roth stage the day's best late charge, both posting the 66th- and 59th-fastest men's splits from mile 20 to the finish to leapfrog into 4th (3:09:30) and 5th (3:09:35).
• 90 men finished in M45-49, with the top 20 all coming in under 3:30.

Jesse Morin entered the second half of the Silverado Trail point-to-point in a solid but unremarkable position — 78th among men at the midpoint. Then he started moving. By mile 20 he had climbed to 62nd, and he crossed the line 60th in the men's field, backing it up with the 53rd-fastest men's second-half split on the day. The result: a 3:01:09 at 6:55/mi, a comfortable two-and-a-half-minute cushion over the field, and the M45-49 title.

Hiroyuki Kubo (Sunnyvale, CA) was the picture of consistency, holding essentially the same position in the men's field from start to finish — 81st at the gun's early stages, 69th at the line — and his 67th-fastest men's split from 13.1 to mile 20 kept him in contention throughout. He finished 2nd in 3:03:46 (7:01/mi). Joseph Scheier-Dolberg (New York, NY) ran a different kind of race: starting further back at 98th among men, he steadily reeled in runners and posted the 68th-fastest men's second-half split to claim 3rd in 3:05:11 (7:04/mi). He made up the most ground of any podium finisher.

The most dramatic moves of the day came from 4th and 5th. Nicholas Keller (Los Altos, CA) and David Roth (San Francisco, CA) were both sitting well outside the top 100 men at mile 20 — 113th and 118th respectively — before each uncorked a strong finishing stretch. Keller's 66th-fastest men's split from mile 20 to the finish landed him 4th in 3:09:30; Roth's even faster 59th-best closing split brought him home 5th in 3:09:35, just five seconds back. A five-second gap after 26.2 miles tells you everything about how close that battle was — and how much both men were still racing all the way down the Napa Valley.