M35-39: Tripathi Takes the Title in 1:20:50

• Sarung Tripathi won the M35-39 race in 1:20:50 (6:10/mi), finishing ahead of Li Chieh Hsu by 2:01.
• The podium was tight at the top but stretched fast: just 10 seconds separated 2nd (Hsu, 1:22:51) from 3rd (Phil Dumontet, 1:23:01), while 4th-place Benjamin Roach (1:23:51) was another 50 seconds back.
• Manuel Cardenas made the most dramatic climb of the listed field, moving from outside the top 70 among men early on all the way to 5th in M35-39 by the finish.
• A 582-runner M35-39 field spread across more than 17 minutes from 1st to 20th place alone.

Sarung Tripathi, 35, of San Francisco, ran the kind of race that rewards patience and finishing speed. His gender position fluctuated — as low as 11th among men at one checkpoint — but he surged decisively in the back half, climbing to 5th among men by the finish. His 6:10/mi average was the class of this group, and his 9th-fastest women's split on the 2M–4M segment hints at just how evenly he distributed his effort across the course's early miles.

Behind him, Li Chieh Hsu (1:22:51, 6:19/mi) ran a strong and consistent race, peaking as high as 3rd among men before settling into 8th — but 2nd in M35-39. His 3rd-fastest women's split on the 10M–10.5M stretch showed he still had something left late. Phil Dumontet of Longmont, CO closed hard too: his 4th-fastest women's split on the 12M–Finish segment was a genuine finishing kick, and it was enough to hold off Benjamin Roach (1:23:51, 6:24/mi) for 3rd by 50 seconds.

The race's most compelling subplot belonged to Manuel Cardenas. Starting well back — 74th among men through the early miles — he ran a relentless second half, posting the 21st-fastest women's split on the 9.6M–10.5M stretch and eventually landing 5th in M35-39 at 1:28:14 (6:44/mi). That's a full 4:23 behind Tripathi, but the trajectory told a different story than the gap. John Wedig (1:28:29) and Alexander Miller (1:29:25) rounded out the top seven, with the field thinning steadily from there through a cool, breezy San Francisco morning.