M20-24 Marathon: Renager dominates the home crowd at Shamrock

• Ethan Renager won the M20-24 group in 2:33:01 (5:50/mi), finishing more than 10 minutes 54 seconds ahead of runner-up Jonathan Conn.
• Jonathan Conn (2:43:55) and Dane Dickerson (2:54:28) rounded out the podium — Dickerson and Griffin Weiner (2:54:52) separated by just 24 seconds at 3rd and 4th.
• Weiner and Michael Schaefer were the late-race chargers: both posted elite closing splits between 35K and the finish, climbing from outside the top 50 among men to the top 20.
• 127 men finished in the M20-24 age group under challenging conditions: 71°F, 73% humidity, and a 17 mph wind off Virginia Beach.

Renager, racing in his home city, was dominant from the gun. He led among men from the very first checkpoint and never relinquished that position, finishing 2nd among men overall by the end — a remarkable performance in heat and humidity that would have tested even seasoned marathoners. His 5:50/mi average across 26.2 miles in those conditions tells the story plainly.

Behind him, Conn ran a controlled and steady race, moving from 6th to 5th among men over the course of the afternoon and banking a 2:43:55 that put clear daylight between himself and the rest of the M20-24 field. The real drama unfolded further back, where Dickerson and Weiner converged on 3rd and 4th. Dickerson posted the 5th-fastest closing split (25.2M to the finish) among men, while Weiner — just 24 seconds back — posted the 2nd-fastest closing split in that same stretch. They were flying at the end; they just ran out of road.

Schaefer's finish deserves a mention too. Starting 65th among men, he reeled in competitor after competitor and crossed 5th in the age group at 2:56:12, recording the 3rd-fastest men's split from 35K to 25.2M in the field. In a race where the heat and wind punished those who went out too hard, the runners who saved something for the back half made their marks count.