M70-74: Plakas Runs Away from the Field Along the Silverado Trail

• Steven Plakas, 72, wins in 3:28:55 (7:58/mi), finishing nearly 29 minutes ahead of runner-up Bob Kemp's 3:57:35.
• Plakas climbed 83 spots in the men's field over the final 6.2 miles — from 298th to 215th — posting the 136th-fastest final push among all men.
• Bob Kemp (2nd, 3:57:35) and Tony Augimeri (3rd, 4:04:46) were separated by just over 7 minutes, with Kemp holding the edge throughout on the strength of a faster second half.
• Eleven men finished the M70-74 race, spanning a range from Plakas's 7:58/mi to Pervie Mcalpin's 11th-place 6:06:18 (13:58/mi).

Steven Plakas of Mobile, AL made the point-to-point run from Calistoga to Napa look like his personal training ground. The 72-year-old clocked 3:28:55 at a 7:58/mi average — a pace that kept him climbing through the men's field all day long. He entered the final 6.2 miles ranked 298th among men and exited at 215th, a surge that included the 136th-fastest closing split in the entire men's field. The margin of victory — 28 minutes and 40 seconds over second place — was never really in question.

Behind him, Bob Kemp (70, Saratoga, CA) and Tony Augimeri (70, Scotts Valley, CA) ran a quiet but real battle for the podium. Kemp's 3:57:35 (9:04/mi) was built on a strong finish: he moved from 535th in the men's field at the first checkpoint all the way to 404th by the finish, posting the 265th-fastest closing split among men. Augimeri's 4:04:46 (9:20/mi) told a slightly different story — he moved steadily but faded relative to Kemp in the second half, slipping from 471st to 453rd in the men's field over the final stretch, with only the 406th-fastest second-half split among men.

Fourth place went to Ezequiel Jimenez (72, La Puente, CA) in 4:26:21, though his race unraveled in the middle miles — he sat 373rd in the men's field at the first split and had fallen to 556th by the finish, with the 511th-fastest 6.2-to-13.1-mile split telling the tale. Cornelius Dooley (71, Santa Fe, NM) was steady if slower, finishing 5th in 4:39:51 and actually gaining ground late with the 520th-fastest closing split. Mike Shubat (6th, 4:56:43), John Catts (7th, 5:09:21), John Johnson (8th, 5:11:46), Craig Carlson (9th, 5:25:40), Gregory Katz (10th, 5:40:25), and Pervie Mcalpin (11th, 6:06:18) rounded out a field that put all 11 men across the line on a cool, breezy Napa morning.