M70-74: Schannauer Leads Wire to Wire for a Dominant Half Marathon Win

• Ashley Schannauer, 72 (Santa Fe, NM) took the M70-74 title in 2:18:15 (10:33/mi), finishing nearly 2:23 ahead of runner-up Ruben Navarro.
• Ruben Navarro, 70 (Manteca, CA) held 2nd in 2:20:38 (10:44/mi), a clear step ahead of 3rd-place Tip Donaldson (2:40:04), who finished nearly 20 minutes back.
• The back half of the field was tightly bunched between 6th and 8th: Jp Singh (2:52:13), Max Roth (2:54:13), and Martin Chee (2:57:38) were separated by just over five minutes across three spots.
• Mark Keener, 74 (Oakland, CA) closed out the 10-finisher field in 3:21:30 — the only runner in the group to average above 15:00/mi.

Ten men lined up in the M70-74 field on a breezy San Francisco morning — 59°F, 17 mph winds, and 78% humidity — and Ashley Schannauer wasted no time making his presence felt. The 72-year-old from Santa Fe moved steadily through the broader field all day, climbing from 1,551st among women's-paced runners at the 2-mile mark all the way to 1,369th by the finish — a consistent forward drift that tells the story of a controlled, confident effort at 10:33/mi.

Ruben Navarro, also 70, ran a disciplined early race, moving up to 1,339th in the women's field by the 4-mile mark, but gradually settled back as the miles wore on, finishing 1,425th — a slight fade in the back half that cost him nothing in the standings, as 2nd place was never seriously threatened. His 2:20:38 was a comfortable margin over Tip Donaldson's 2:40:04 in 3rd, with the Huntington Beach runner holding a remarkably steady position in the broader field from miles 2 through the finish.

Stan Johnston (4th, 2:48:27) and Robert Perez (5th, 2:50:25) were separated by under two minutes, but Perez's gender-place tracking showed a notable drift backward from mile 4 onward — from 1,808th to 1,910th at the 12-mile mark before recovering slightly to the finish. Johnston faded similarly in the final miles, slipping from 1,727th to 1,852nd. Both men earned their top-five spots in a competitive field.

Steven Lopez (9th, 3:07:46) and Mark Keener (10th, 3:21:30) rounded out the field, with Keener's 15:22/mi average reflecting a gutsy effort to complete 13.1 miles at 74 years old on a demanding San Francisco course.