M65-69 8K: Beers Runs Away With It in Virginia Beach

• Paul Beers (67, Roanoke) won the M65-69 age group in 32:22 — a 6:31/mi pace that put nearly 4 minutes of daylight between him and second place.
• Dwight Denlinger (66, Weyers Cave) claimed second in 36:20, with Douglas Rudley (69, Virginia Beach) rounding out the podium in 39:00 — a 2:40 gap between them.
• Places 4 and 5 were tight: Timothy Hodge (41:08) and Patrick McShea (41:38) were separated by just 30 seconds.
• 114 men finished in the M65-69 age group, with times ranging from 32:22 at the front to a broad spread across the field.

Paul Beers didn't just win the M65-69 age group at the 2025 Shamrock 8K — he dominated it. The 67-year-old from Roanoke crossed in 32:22, running 6:31 per mile on a mild Virginia Beach morning of 62°F with a light breeze off the coast. His margin over second place was 3:58, a gap that speaks less to a close race than to a runner operating in a different gear entirely.

Dwight Denlinger of Weyers Cave was a clear and convincing second in 36:20, running 7:19 per mile to hold off Douglas Rudley — the 69-year-old local from Virginia Beach — by 2:40. At 69, Rudley was the oldest man on the podium, finishing in 39:00 at 7:51/mi, a result worth noting given he had a full four years on the runner-up.

The battle for fourth and fifth was the tightest contest of the day. Timothy Hodge and Patrick McShea, both 65 and both Virginia Beach locals, traded the same stretch of boardwalk with just 30 seconds between them at the finish — Hodge in 41:08, McShea in 41:38. Rahn Burleson (42:01), Ray Baumgardner (42:16), James Jones (42:49), and Kevin Lounsbury (42:52) then clustered within 51 seconds of each other, making the 6th-through-9th spots the most competitive pocket in the entire age group.