M55-59: Hemez Takes the Title in a Tight Three-Way Battle at the Top

• Francois Hemez, 56, of Oakland, won M55-59 in 3:21:13 (7:40/mi), the only finisher in the group to break 3:22.
• 54-second gap separates 1st through 3rd — Hemez (3:21:13), Bill Salacuse (3:22:07), and Keish Doi (3:23:57) — in a 134-runner field.
• Bradley Fenner (3:24:39) rounded out the top four, just 1:26 behind Hemez and only 42 seconds off Doi.
• Places 14 and 15 — Rufino Aquino and Andre Peterson — both crossed in 3:41:14, with timing separating them by the narrowest of margins.

Francois Hemez didn't get to the front immediately. His moves tell a story of a steady, relentless climb through the men's field — from well outside the top 1,000 men overall at the start to 254th by the finish. He ran 7:40/mi across San Francisco's notoriously uneven terrain, and that pace proved just enough to hold off a persistent Bill Salacuse. Salacuse finished 54 seconds back in 3:22:07 (7:43/mi) and actually posted one of the stronger closing splits in the group — his 215th-fastest women's-field split on the 24 Miles→Finish segment underscores that he was moving well late. The gap between them is narrow, but it's real: Hemez had the pace when it mattered most.

Keish Doi (3:23:57, 7:47/mi) held third throughout much of the race, though his gender-place trajectory showed a slight fade in the back half — he slipped from around 270th among men in the middle miles to 305th by the finish. That fade was just enough to keep him off Salacuse's heels. Bradley Fenner (3:24:39, 7:48/mi) ran a disciplined race from the front, starting 488th among men and working his way to 316th, and his second-half split ranked among the stronger finishes in the group.

Bingbiao Fang (5th, 3:27:35) and Cc Lee (6th, 3:28:57) kept the top tier honest, with Joe Lozoya (7th, 3:29:05) just eight seconds behind Lee — a three-man cluster between 3:28 and 3:30. The field spread out considerably after that, with John Anderson (10th, 3:32:03) and Jun Kawashima (11th, 3:32:44) anchoring a solid mid-pack before the field extended to Jörg Cebulla in 20th at 3:47:24 and 114 more finishers beyond.