M50-54: Capelli Dominates the Parkway at 6:19 Pace

• Marco Capelli won the M50-54 age group in 2:06:17 (6:19/mi), finishing 10 minutes clear of the field and posting the 2nd-fastest men's split on the second half of the course.
• David Kaffka climbed from 19th among men at the opening checkpoint all the way to 12th by the finish, running the 12th-fastest men's split between Mile 10 and Mile 15.6 to lock up 2nd in 2:16:17.
• 5th and 6th place separated by just 2 seconds: Mahesh Reghupathy (2:34:00) edged Scott Mann (2:34:02) after Mann held the faster early pace — Reghupathy caught up by running the strongest men's split of the two from Mile 16 to the finish.
• 32 men finished in the M50-54 age group on a warm November day in Folsom — 74°F with broken clouds making every mile feel a touch harder than the calendar suggested.

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Marco Capelli made this look like a different race than everyone else was running. His 6:19/mi average over 20 miles on a 74°F day put him 10 full minutes ahead of runner-up David Kaffka (2:16:17, 6:49/mi) — a gap that reflects not just speed but a completely different gear. His second-half men's split ranked 2nd among all men in the field, meaning he wasn't fading in the heat; he was still pressing.

Kaffka's race told its own story. He was 19th among men through the early miles and hadn't cracked the top 15 by Mile 10 — but his Mile 10-to-15.6 split, 12th-fastest among men in the field, was the engine of a steady, disciplined climb. By the finish he had moved to 12th among men overall and taken a firm 2nd in the M50-54 group. Pao Lex Moua rounded out the podium in 2:22:42 (7:08/mi), though his trajectory ran the other direction — he slipped from 23rd to 29th among men across the checkpoints, the back half of the course clearly taking its toll.

The race's most dramatic two seconds came at the very back of the top six. Mahesh Reghupathy (2:34:00) and Scott Mann (2:34:02) ran virtually the same race in total time, but got there differently — Reghupathy's strongest relative split came from Mile 16 to the finish, suggesting he reeled Mann in late. Sean Davis (2:42:13) and Joe Cimafranca (2:42:29) staged a nearly identical duel 16 seconds further back for 7th and 8th. The M50-54 group at Run the Parkway delivered racing top to bottom.