M35-39: Ayano Defends His San Francisco 10K Crown

• Gudisa Ayano, 38, wins M35-39 in 33:14 (5:21/mi) — a commanding 3:08 gap over runner-up David Krulewich (36:22).
• Krulewich and Akbarov battle for the podium, finishing 2nd and 3rd in 36:22 and 36:53 — just 31 seconds apart.
• Anson Lam (4th, 38:05) and Michael Sepcot (5th, 39:35) round out the top five, with a 1:30 gap between them.
• 230 finishers completed the M35-39 race under cool, overcast San Francisco skies.

Gudisa Ayano returned to the San Francisco 10K and did exactly what he did in 2022 — won it. The Oakland-based 38-year-old crossed in 33:14 at 5:21/mi, defending the overall men's title he claimed a year ago in 32:28. That's a year older, a touch slower, but the result is the same: nobody in the M35-39 field came within three minutes of him. When you win the overall men's race one year and come back to win your age group the next, that's a story worth telling twice.

David Krulewich (37, Fairfield, CT) was the clear second-best in the field, running 36:22 at 5:51/mi to finish 3:08 behind Ayano — a gap that tells you just how dominant the winner was. Oleg Akbarov (35, San Francisco) pushed Krulewich for the final podium spot, closing in 36:53 at 5:56/mi. Thirty-one seconds separated silver from bronze, making that the sharpest contest of the day outside of Ayano's lane entirely.

Anson Lam (37, San Jose) ran a solid 38:05 to claim 4th, while Michael Sepcot (39, Burlingame) rounded out the top five in 39:35. The gap from 5th to 6th was notably large — Schuyler Hall (35, Hayward) crossed in 42:51, opening a stretch where 6th through 8th (Hall, Douglass Jordan, and Erick Polanco) finished within 19 seconds of each other between 42:51 and 43:10. Further back, a tight cluster from 13th through 15th — Edwin Habid Jimenez Lopez, Rajiv Yedula, and Mike Matthews — all finished between 46:39 and 46:42, separated by just three seconds across three runners.