San Francisco 5K (2024): Lynch Dominates M25-29 in the Fog

• John Lynch wins M25-29 in 17:56 (5:46/mi) — 35 seconds clear of the field in a 130-man race.
• Derek Tao and Kyle Macauley round out the podium at 18:31 and 18:56, separated by 25 seconds.
• Bowen Song (5th, 20:21) and Eric Dunbar (6th, 20:24) finish just 3 seconds apart after a tight battle for 5th.
• Yuting Chou and Andrew Ge (10th and 11th) clock the same displayed time of 22:58 — timing chips split them, but just barely.

San Francisco's cool, damp Sunday morning — 55°F, overcast, and thick with 89% humidity — set the stage for a sharp M25-29 race across 130 finishers. John Lynch, 28, from San Francisco, made it his home course in every sense, running a commanding 17:56 at 5:46/mi to take the win by 35 seconds. That kind of margin doesn't suggest a close race at the front — Lynch simply ran away from the field.

Derek Tao (San Jose, 18:31, 5:58/mi) held second place and kept things respectable at the top, with Kyle Macauley (26, San Francisco, 18:56, 6:06/mi) earning third. Jessie Salas of Mountain View was a solid fourth in 19:23 (6:14/mi), meaning the top four all broke 19:30 — a clean, fast cluster at the head of the race.

The next battle worth watching was the fight for fifth. Bowen Song (Redwood City, 20:21, 6:33/mi) and Eric Dunbar (San Francisco, 20:24, 6:34/mi) were locked together for the better part of the race, finishing just three seconds apart after running nearly identical paces. Song edged it, but Dunbar was right on his heels.

Further back, the race thinned into a series of tight groupings. Richard Xie (8th, 22:16) and Divi Kumar (9th, 22:17) were separated by a single second, and Yuting Chou and Andrew Ge (10th and 11th) were split only by the timing chip at 22:58 apiece. Yurii Hanley and Olman Lopez (13th and 14th) matched each other exactly at 23:33. In a 130-man field, the M25-29 race had no shortage of photo-finish moments behind the leaders.