M30-34: Garrett Patrick Surges from Seventh to Champion

• Garrett Patrick won M30-34 in 2:26:25 (5:35/mi), climbing from 7th among men at the first checkpoint all the way to 1st — and posting the fastest men's split on the 6M→8M segment in the process.
• Gabriel Kaufman ran the 2nd-fastest men's split on that same 6M→8M stretch, but couldn't hold his early momentum: he slipped from 4th among men to 9th by the finish, crossing in 2:35:40 for 3rd in M30-34.
• Tie Zheng was steadier, climbing from 14th among men at the open to 6th by the finish — good for 2nd in M30-34 at 2:35:06, just 34 seconds clear of Kaufman.
• Brian Learn (2:46:23) and Jason Yen (2:46:29) finished 6th and 7th respectively, separated by just six seconds across 26.2 miles.

Garrett Patrick turned this into a race of the second half. The 33-year-old from Daly City was sitting 7th among men through the early miles, patient while others pushed the pace. Then came the 6M→8M stretch — where he ran the fastest men's split in the field on that segment — and the race changed shape entirely. By mile 9.6 he was already 2nd among men, and he never relinquished the lead from there, finishing in 2:26:25 at a 5:35/mi clip in the cool, breezy San Francisco air.

The battle for the podium behind him told its own story. Gabriel Kaufman of San Francisco was flying early — 4th among men through the midway point, with the 2nd-fastest men's split on that pivotal 6M→8M segment — but the back half cost him. He slid to 9th among men by the finish, clocking 2:35:40. Tie Zheng of Palo Alto took the opposite arc: methodical and relentless, working from 14th all the way up to 6th among men and 2nd in M30-34 at 2:35:06. Zheng's 5th-fastest men's split on the 8M→9.6M leg was part of what kept him climbing while others faded.

Matthew Cook (2:43:21) and Conor Oreilly (2:45:15) rounded out the top five, with Oreilly posting the 18th-fastest men's split on the 10.5M→12M segment to hold his position late. The depth in this field was genuine — 1,040 finishers in M30-34, with Learn and Yen separated by just six seconds at the line and nine more men under 3:00:17.