Rio Del Lago 50K M50-59: Novak Claims the Age Group in 5:42

• Ben Novak won the M50-59 group in 5:42:19, averaging 11:01/mi across the 50K course.
• Daniel Jones was 7:31 back in 2nd, with Sean Davis another 7:12 behind him in 3rd — a combined 14:43 separating the podium.
• Adam Stramel and Chris Perlberg staged the closest battle of the day, finishing 4th and 5th just 38 seconds apart (6:06:32 vs. 6:07:10).
• Seven men finished in the M50-59 group, with the field spread across nearly three hours from first to last.

Ben Novak ran a composed, measured race from Millbrae. His gender standing held steady through the middle miles — sitting 21st among the men at multiple checkpoints — before he reeled off a late surge that moved him from 21st to 15th in the men's field by the finish. At 11:01/mi, he was the only M50-59 finisher to crack 5:43, and the margin over Jones was comfortable enough that the result was never seriously in doubt over the final stretch.

Daniel Jones told a different kind of story. Starting conservatively — 29th among the men at the first checkpoint — he was one of the more aggressive movers of the day, climbing steadily to 17th among the men by the finish. That kind of sustained progression over a 50K is hard to manufacture; Jones earned his 2nd-place finish by running the second half better than the first. Sean Davis mirrored that pattern early, shooting up to 16th among the men by the second checkpoint before gradually settling back to 19th — a reminder that going out hard on this course extracts a price in the later miles.

The race's tightest moment came between Stramel and Perlberg. Stramel had actually held a stronger position through the middle of the race — as high as 14th among the men — before fading to 22nd by the finish, while Perlberg ran a more even-paced 23rd throughout. In the end, 38 seconds separated them at the line. Devasrinivas Yelisetti and Michael Trapp rounded out the seven-man field, with Trapp finishing in 8:39:02 — a testament to covering the distance on a warm, clear November day in the Sierra Nevada foothills.