San Francisco Marathon M60-64: Ermilov Surges Late to Take the Crown

• Igor Ermilov won M60-64 in 3:28:50 (7:58/mi), the only finisher in this group to break 3:30.
• Holger Runge was the early mover, posting one of the stronger early splits (2.2–5.7 Miles), but faded from 294th among men at that checkpoint to 391st by the finish — a 4-minute gap to Ermilov at the line.
• Michael Hickey made the most dramatic late charge, rocketing from 849th among men at the 18-mile mark to 584th by the finish on the strength of the strongest 18–24 Mile split of the M60-64 podium group.
• The top five were separated by just 14 minutes, with 4th and 5th (Yifan Cheng, 3:42:40, and Michael Hickey, 3:42:53) separated by a mere 13 seconds.

Igor Ermilov, 61, of San Francisco ran the race of the day in M60-64, and his splits tell the story plainly. He entered the men's field at 521st at the 2.2-mile mark and climbed relentlessly, reaching 326th by mile 24 before a punishing final stretch carried him all the way to 343rd — a net gain of nearly 200 places across 26.2 miles. His closing leg was sharp enough to rank among the fastest 24-miles-to-finish splits in the broader women's field, underlining just how much he was accelerating when others were hanging on.

Holger Runge, 60, arrived from Duisburg and made his move early. He was running near 294th among men through the opening miles and posted a top split on the 2.2–5.7 Mile segment, but the hills and miles took their toll. By the finish he had drifted back to 391st among men and crossed in 3:32:53 — good enough for second in M60-64, but 4:03 behind Ermilov. Peter Hunt, 60, of Cameron Park rounded out the podium in 3:36:07, recovering from a mid-race dip to close well with a strong final-leg split.

Fourth and fifth played out as the race's tightest subplot. Yifan Cheng (3:42:40) and Michael Hickey (3:42:53) finished just 13 seconds apart after very different journeys. Cheng ran steadily but faded through the back half, while Hickey, of Basingstoke, was buried at 849th among men at mile 18 before unleashing the strongest late surge of any M60-64 finisher — nearly 265 places gained in the final eight miles. He ran out of road by 13 seconds. Boyd Kalnay (3:45:22) and Francis Enomoto (3:45:27) then produced their own near-mirror finish for 6th and 7th, five seconds apart, capping a fiercely competitive top half of an 83-runner field.