M25-29: Pedersen Surges Late to Take the Win in Napa Wine Country

• Robert Pedersen, 2:19:17 (5:19/mi) — won M25-29 after moving from 3rd to 1st among men in the final stretch, posting the fastest men's split on the 10M–13.1M segment.
• Josh Tysor, 2:21:15 (5:23/mi) — runner-up by 1:58, with the fastest men's split on the 16.2M–20M segment showing he had serious late-race legs.
• Jack Rager, 2:30:18 (5:44/mi) — 3rd place, over 8 minutes back from Tysor but rock-steady throughout, holding 6th among men from start to finish.
• Tight podium gap at the top, then a canyon: 9 minutes separated Pedersen from Rager — but only 31 seconds split 3rd from 4th (Bailey Sauter, 2:30:49).

Robert Pedersen came to Napa to race, not just finish. Running the point-to-point Silverado Trail course at a 5:19/mi clip, the 27-year-old from Santa Rosa navigated a fluid early battle — sitting 3rd among men through the first checkpoint before briefly slipping to 3rd again — then seized the moment between miles 10 and 13.1, where he posted the fastest men's split of anyone in the field on that segment. By the time the course wound into Napa, Pedersen had moved to the front of the men's race and held it for a 2:19:17 finish and the M25-29 title.

Josh Tysor wasn't going quietly. The Albuquerque 26-year-old tracked Pedersen closely through the middle miles, trading the 2nd-place men's position back and forth before locking it down for good. His fastest men's split on the 16.2M–20M segment — a stretch where many marathoners are already negotiating with their legs — signals that Tysor ran his best racing late. In the end, 1:58 separated him from the win.

Jack Rager (2:30:18) was a model of consistency, sitting 6th among men at every single checkpoint and crossing 3rd in M25-29. Just 31 seconds behind him came Bailey Sauter (2:30:49), who also had the 4th-fastest men's split on the 16.2M–20M segment — a reminder that Rager held that 3rd place by executing, not coasting. William Ingalls (2:39:32) rounded out the top five, cracking 6:05/mi pace and posting the 9th-fastest men's split on the 6.2M–10M segment.

Behind the top five, a cluster of San Francisco runners dominated the next tier: Sujith Naapa Ramesh (2:40:33), Ryan Sax (2:41:44), and Michael Giles (2:44:57) all placed in the top ten, with Michael Saxon (2:51:56) rounding out the top 20 in 6:33/mi pace. In a 199-finisher M25-29 field, the spread from Pedersen's winning 2:19:17 to Saxon's 2:51:56 tells the full story of a deep and competitive group racing hard along the vines.