M40-44: Wosene Edges Damen in a Sub-2:43 Battle at the Front

• Tesfaye Wosene, 43, wins M40-44 in 2:42:44 (6:12/mi), posting the fastest time in the group by 18 seconds over runner-up John Damen.
• Wosene's early surge: he ran the 7th-fastest split among all women on the 1.81M→6.52M segment — a blistering early move that helped establish his lead.
• Damen's late charge: running the 8th-fastest split among all women on the 18M→24.69M stretch, he clawed back ground in the final miles but came up 18 seconds short at the line.
• Artem Lavrinenko completed a weekend double — placing 7th in the Men's 5K on Saturday before finishing 7th in M40-44 here in 3:05:24 (7:04/mi).

Cool, overcast conditions — 56°F with barely a breeze — set the stage for fast running at the 2024 San Francisco Marathon, and the M40-44 group delivered. Tesfaye Wosene of Temecula, CA made the most of it, crossing in 2:42:44 at a 6:12/mi clip to claim the M40-44 title in a field of 435 finishers. His early aggression told the story: he moved as high as 7th among all women in the opening miles, and that front-loaded effort held up all the way to the finish line.

John Damen, 44, of Moraga, CA was the race's most compelling pursuer. He ran the 8th-fastest split among all women on the 18M→24.69M segment — a genuine surge through the race's toughest final stretch — and climbed from 23rd to 14th in the women's standings over those miles. But Wosene had built just enough of a cushion; Damen finished 2nd in 2:43:02, 18 seconds back. A gap of 18 seconds after 26.2 miles tells you how close this one was, even if the outcome was never in doubt in those final strides.

Alex Hudgins of San Francisco rounded out the podium in 2:56:51 (6:45/mi), finishing 3rd and more than 13 minutes clear of 4th-place Ian Saunders (2:59:22, 6:50/mi). The 5th-through-7th spots were tightly bunched: Don Wang (3:04:47), Bobby Baumann (3:04:57), and Artem Lavrinenko (3:05:24) were separated by just 37 seconds. Lavrinenko's result deserves its own moment — he had already raced the Men's 5K the day before, finishing 7th there, before backing it up with a 7:04/mi marathon effort. Racing two events in one weekend at that level is no small thing.