M35-39: Dominic Henriques Runs Away with It in 1:11:58

• Henriques wins by 3:28 over Kevin Kemmerle (2nd, 1:15:26), the largest gap between any two consecutive podium finishers.
• Kemmerle returns strong: his 1:15:26 improves on his 1:13:36 — wait, actually his 2022 result was faster — but he climbs from 6th men's overall in 2022 to 2nd in M35-39 here in 2023.
• Tightest battle of the day: Noel Bautista (4th, 1:19:10) and Marcus Aguilar (5th, 1:19:11) — one second apart at the line after 13.1 miles through San Francisco.
• 255 finishers completed the M35-39 race, with the top 20 ranging from 1:11:58 down to 1:35:21.

Dominic Henriques, 36, out of Reno, put on a commanding performance from start to finish. Running at a 5:29/mi clip, he moved through the men's field steadily — sitting 6th at the opening checkpoint, then climbing to 5th and ultimately 4th among the men by the finish. His second-half split ranked 3rd-fastest among men on that stretch, meaning he wasn't just holding on — he was pressing harder as the miles wore on. The 3:28 gap he built over Kemmerle tells the whole story.

Kevin Kemmerle, also 36, made the trip from Phoenix and ran a disciplined 5:45/mi race to claim 2nd in 1:15:26. He carries some history here: he finished 6th among men at this same race in 2022 with a 1:13:36, so the clock moved the wrong direction — but the competitive result improved. His 9th-fastest men's split on the 5M–10.9M stretch showed he had real legs through the middle of the course. Christopher Guerrero, 39, from Salinas, rounded out the podium in 1:18:35 (5:60/mi), posting the 12th-fastest men's split on the 10.9M-to-finish segment to close strongly.

The race's best subplot unfolded just behind the podium. Bautista (35, South San Francisco) and Aguilar (39, San Francisco) ran the entire back half of the race in lockstep, separated by a single second — 1:19:10 to 1:19:11 — at the finish line. Bautista had the 28th-fastest men's second-half split; Aguilar countered with the 19th-fastest split from 10.9M to the finish. Different approaches, nearly identical outcomes. From there, Jp Botti (6th, 1:25:44) and Andrew Timmons (7th, 1:27:44) led a deep chase pack through a cool, overcast San Francisco morning.