M65-69 at Two Cities: Silverman Runs Away from the Field

• Alex Silverman won the M65-69 group in 1:39:30 (7:35/mi), finishing 13 minutes and 5 seconds clear of runner-up Jose Melchor.
• Silverman surged dramatically through the men's field, moving from 357th to 128th to 67th among men across the race's checkpoints.
• Andy Macias pulled off the most dramatic position swing in the group — rocketing to 31st among men at the first checkpoint before fading to 371st by the finish.
• Seventeen men finished in M65-69, with a spread of 1:29:46 between first and last.

Alex Silverman, 68, from Oakhurst, turned in the kind of performance that makes the rest of the field look like they're running a different race. His 1:39:30 at 7:35 per mile wasn't just a win — it was a statement. His checkpoint progression tells the real story: he entered the 10K mark ranked 357th among men, then absolutely flew the back half, climbing to 128th and ultimately 67th among men at the finish. On that 10K-to-finish segment, he posted the 51st-fastest men's split in the field — a remarkable display of negative splitting in 74°F heat.

Jose Melchor (65, Fresno) claimed second in 1:52:35, with Oscar Guzman rounding out the podium in 2:00:59. Melchor's own 10K split was among the stronger ones in the group — 61st-fastest among men on the opening 1M-to-10K stretch — though he couldn't sustain that pace to bridge anywhere near Silverman's gap.

The most dramatic story behind the podium belongs to Andy Macias, 69, of Porterville. He blazed out of the gates, sitting 31st among men at the first checkpoint — a scorching early pace that put him on a trajectory no one in the M65-69 group could match at that moment. The back half told a different tale: he faded to 155th by 10K and 371st at the line, finishing 4th in 2:05:25. It's the classic high-risk early move, and on a warm November morning in Fresno, the second half collected its toll.

Thomas Schroeder (6th, 2:08:53) and Jim Mascarenaz (7th, 2:11:45) rounded out a competitive top half, while a significant gap opened to Pryde Fonbah in 8th at 2:32:05 — separating the front seven from the back ten by nearly 20 minutes.