Rocket City M40-44: Wahl holds his nerve as Chelimo fades late

• James Wahl (42, Chattanooga) won the M40-44 group in 2:39:54 (6:06/mi), holding a steady position among the men throughout before closing with the 9th-fastest 31K-to-finish split in the men's field.
• Nicholas Chelimo (40, Iten) ran the first half like a different race entirely — sitting 1st among men through 10K and the half — before a dramatic fade to 11th among men by the finish, ending up 2nd in M40-44 in 2:41:50.
• The gap from 2nd to 3rd was nearly 7 minutes: Jackson Kuntze (42, Charlotte) took 3rd in 2:48:52, a margin that underscores how clearly the podium separated itself from the rest of the field.
• A warm, humid December day — 70°F, 76% humidity, 17 mph wind — made the back half a grind for many, with 77 men finishing across a wide spread of times.

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James Wahl's victory was built on consistency. He sat 10th among men at every checkpoint through the half, slipped briefly to 11th, then reclaimed 10th by the finish — a race run almost exactly to plan. His 6:06/mi average held up even as conditions pressed down on the field, and his strong 31K-to-finish split confirmed he had more left than most.

Nicholas Chelimo's race told the opposite story. The 40-year-old from Iten came through 10K and the half as the fastest man on the course, running a scorching early pace and posting the 2nd-fastest 10K-to-half split among the men. But the back half unraveled badly — he fell from 1st to 11th among men in the final stretch, finishing 1:56 behind Wahl. Whether it was the humidity, the wind, or simply going out too hard, the damage was done well before the finish line.

Jackson Kuntze (Charlotte) rounded out the podium in 2:48:52, having moved steadily in the opposite direction — 28th among men at 10K, climbing to 16th by the finish. His 12th-fastest 31K-to-finish split among the men reflects a well-paced second half. Behind him, the race spread wide: Ben Herring (Honolulu) and Tom Barnard (Madison) clocked 4th and 5th at 3:07:15 and 3:08:28 respectively, separated by just 73 seconds, with Andrew Clarke and Christopher Braun close behind in a tight cluster from 5th through 8th all within 2:17 of each other.