M65-69: De La Higuera Galán Runs Away from a Global Field

• Emilio José De La Higuera Galán (Valladolid, age 68) won M65-69 in 3:36:43 (8:16/mi), finishing more than 8 minutes clear of runner-up Glenn Kishiyama.
• Kishiyama (3:45:17) and Bob Daley (3:47:12) battled hard for the podium, separated by just 1:55 at the line.
• The top five alone spanned four countries — Spain, the United States, the Netherlands, and Spain again — making this one of the most internationally scattered podiums on the course.
• 54 men finished in M65-69, with the top 20 ranging from 3:36 to 4:59.

Emilio José De La Higuera Galán, 68, made the trip from Valladolid count. Running at 8:16 per mile through San Francisco's 59°F, wind-whipped morning, he steadily climbed through the men's field from 884th at the first checkpoint all the way to 640th by the finish — a relentless forward march across 26.2 miles. His best move came late: his 22M–24M split ranked 346th fastest among all men, a surge in the closing miles that underscored he had more in reserve than anyone behind him. The 8-minute winning margin tells the story plainly.

Behind him, Glenn Kishiyama of Fremont (3:45:17, 8:36/mi) ran a different kind of race — patient early, then decisive in the middle miles. His 14M–16M split was 511th fastest in the men's field, and he moved from 1,029th at the first checkpoint to 874th by mile 16, locking up second place in M65-69 with room to spare. Bob Daley, making the trip from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, was the early aggressor: his 6M–8M split ranked 713th in the men's field, and he sat as high as 822nd overall among men by the midway point. But the back half of San Francisco's course exacted its toll, and Daley drifted back to 953rd by the finish — enough for third in 3:47:12 (8:40/mi), just 1:55 behind Kishiyama.

Izaak De Bruijne of Amersfoort held fourth in 3:50:42, while Bilbao's Jose Ignacio De Velasco Perez rounded out the top five in 3:57:52 — the only finisher in the top five to crack the 9:00/mi barrier from the other side. From there, the field spread out across the afternoon, with Jonathan Mayes and Igor Ermilov, both San Francisco locals, going 6th and 7th in 4:09:10 and 4:10:42, and Eduardo Chapiro of Mexico completing a genuinely global top ten with his 4:12:32 in 9th at age 69.