M35-39: Kemmerle Runs Away from a Deep Field in San Francisco

• Kevin Kemmerle won M35-39 in 1:13:36 (5:37/mi), climbing from 9th to 6th among men across the race and posting the 6th-fastest Second Half split in the men's field.
• James Timbrell took 2nd in 1:14:59, surging from 17th to 11th among men on the back half — the 10th-fastest 5M→10.9M split among men — to edge Kasper Sorensen by 27 seconds.
• Kasper Sorensen (3rd, 1:15:26) delivered the 4th-fastest 10.9M→Finish split among men, a late charge that nearly caught Timbrell but fell just short.
• Stefano Federici faded from 8th to 20th among men across the race, surrendering a podium position on the back half.

Kevin Kemmerle, 35, made the trip from Phoenix count. Running 5:37/mi through San Francisco's cool, humid morning, he steadily climbed the men's standings — 9th at the first checkpoint, then 8th, 7th, and finally 6th by the finish line — while locking up M35-39 with a 1:13:36 that no one in the field came close to matching. His 1:23 margin over James Timbrell was comfortable, earned by consistent pressure across all 13.1 miles.

Behind him, the real drama was a tale of two races. Timbrell, the San Francisco local, ran a patient first half before unleashing a 10th-fastest 5M→10.9M split among men to vault from 17th to 11th in the men's field and lock up 2nd. Sorensen, racing from Munich, went the other direction — quieter through the middle miles, then storming home with the 4th-fastest 10.9M→Finish split among men to close to within 27 seconds of Timbrell. The finish time gap was real, but Sorensen's final-leg pace was the sharpest of any podium finisher.

Stefano Federici, meanwhile, told a cautionary tale from 4th place. He sat 8th among men at the 2.95M mark — ahead of where Kemmerle stood — but faded to 20th by the finish, crossing in 1:17:29 (5:55/mi). The gap between him and Sorensen stretched to nearly two minutes over the second half. Daniel Bucy (5th, 1:20:54) and Marcus Aguilar (6th, 1:21:51) rounded out the top six, with the field spreading out significantly beyond the podium — more than seven minutes separating 3rd from 20th in a 193-strong M35-39 race.