Way Too Cool 50K M60-69: Monem Edges Irons in a Razor-Close Finish

• Mansour Monem, 65, wins M60-69 in 5:36:22 (10:50/mi), holding off Ted Irons by just 35 seconds after more than five and a half hours of racing.
• Irons matched Monem stride for stride for most of the race before finishing in 5:36:57 — the smallest margin separating any two finishers in the M60-69 group.
• Ken Webster (3rd, 6:26:25) was the only other finisher under six and a half hours, running nearly 50 minutes clear of 4th place.
• The field spanned over three hours from Monem's winning 5:36:22 to John Feeney's 8:40:09 in 10th.

Mansour Monem of Carmichael, CA made the most of his 65-year-old legs on a clear, mild day in Cool, running a disciplined 10:50/mi to claim the M60-69 title. What made it dramatic was how long Ted Irons stayed with him. Through the middle stages of the race the two were effectively inseparable in the men's field — Irons actually held a slight edge on Monem at several checkpoints — before Monem pulled just enough clear on the run to HWY 49 and the finish to seal it by 35 seconds. After 31 miles, that's a margin you can feel but barely see.

Ken Webster, 60, out of Portland, was the race's great mid-pack mover. He entered the men's field deep — well back — and steadily climbed through the field all day, finishing 3rd in M60-69 at 6:26:25 and posting the strongest closing split of the three podium finishers on the HWY 49 to finish segment. Behind him, Manouch Shirvanioun (4th, 6:50:05) and Gilberto Esteban (5th, 6:57:38) were separated by just over seven minutes, with Esteban also moving through the men's field in the back half of the race.

The bottom half of the M60-69 field showed the full range this distance demands. Michael Peoples (6th, 7:10:24), John Nichols (7th, 7:41:50), and Steve Lynn (8th, 7:44:24) — Lynn making the trip from Rapid City, SD — were clustered within about 33 minutes of each other. Vaughan Landrum and John Feeney rounded out the group, both finishing in the 8-hour range and completing all ten M60-69 starters on the day.