M70-74 at Shamrock'n Half Marathon: Cordano Runs Clear at 74

• Mike Cordano won the M70-74 group in 1:58:56 (9:04/mi) — the only finisher to break two hours, and he did it at age 74, the oldest in the field.
• Steve Yee (2nd, 2:09:53) and Gil Lemmon (3rd, 2:10:51) were separated by just 58 seconds at the line — but they got there very differently.
• The M70-74 field spanned 1:13:22 from first to last, with Charles Lukes rounding out the ten-man group in 3:12:18 at 14:40/mi.
• Lemmon was the early mover, entering the Mile 2–5 stretch with the freshest legs in the group — but it cost him later.

Mike Cordano's 1:58:56 wasn't just a win — it was a statement. Running 9:04/mi at age 74, the oldest man in the M70-74 field, Cordano was the only one to crack two hours on a cool but breezy 55°F morning in West Sacramento. He steadily climbed through the men's field as the race wore on, moving from 911th at the first checkpoint all the way to 830th by Mile 11 — a sign of someone who ran the back half with purpose while others faded. The gap to second place was a commanding 10:57.

Steve Yee and Gil Lemmon both crossed within a minute of each other — Yee in 2:09:53 and Lemmon in 2:10:51 — but the story of their race couldn't be more different. Lemmon came out fast, his early split from Mile 2 to Mile 5 ranking among the stronger efforts in the men's field at that stage. But that early energy came with a price: his position among men deteriorated steadily from 399th to 1,182nd by Mile 11, a clear fade through the second half. Yee, by contrast, ran a far more measured race, barely drifting in the men's standings and holding consistent effort to Mile 11. The finish time was close; the approach was not.

Behind the podium, William Love (4th, 2:26:43) and Jim Salter (5th, 2:30:55) kept racing to the end, separated by 4:12 and both logging the final segment as their strongest relative showing. Ernie Bitsilly (6th, 2:34:02), Jeff Garbutt (7th, 2:43:00), Russell Mcmahon (8th, 2:52:55), and Steve Shumrak (9th, 2:57:01) filled out the middle and back of the pack before Charles Lukes closed it out in 3:12:18 — completing 13.1 miles at 74 years old on a windy March morning, which is its own kind of finish.