M70+ 5K: Frederick Taylor dominates, but the real story is who showed up

• Frederick Taylor, 76, wins in 28:19 — a 9:07/mi pace that put 4:42 between him and 2nd place.
• Tight battle for 2nd: David Acker (33:01) and Garry Trojanowski (33:43) were separated by just 42 seconds across 3.1 miles.
• Mike Laramie, 89, finishes 7th in 46:01 — the oldest finisher in the M70+ field by a wide margin.
• Full field of 10 completed the course, from Taylor's 28:19 down to Steven Wiegert's 1:07:03.

Frederick Taylor made the M70+ race look almost unfair. The 76-year-old from Austin ran a 9:07/mi pace to cross in 28:19 — a commanding wire-to-wire performance that left the rest of the field nearly five minutes behind. There was no drama at the front; Taylor simply ran at a level no one else in this field could match on the day.

Behind him, the real competition played out between David Acker of Novato and Garry Trojanowski of Windsor. Acker took 2nd in 33:01 to Trojanowski's 33:43 — a 42-second gap that made for the closest battle on the course. Sam Fernandez (4th, 37:43) and Donald Gong (5th, 39:11) rounded out the top five, with Gong finishing at a 12:37/mi pace just under four minutes back of Fernandez.

Then there's Mike Laramie. The 89-year-old from Union City finished 7th in 46:01 — and deserves his own sentence for that alone. He is the oldest finisher by at least 12 years over the next-oldest competitor at his position in the field, and he covered 3.1 miles at 14:49/mi on a morning that belonged to people decades younger. Charles Wilson (8th, 50:50), Neal Wooley (9th, 56:33), and Steven Wiegert (10th, 1:07:03) all saw it through to the finish as well, completing a field where every single starter crossed the line.