M35-39: Moen Dominates as NYC Half's Fastest Thirty-Something

• Sondre Nordstad Moen won the M35-39 group in 1:02:41 (4:47/mi), nearly two minutes clear of runner-up Galen Rupp (1:04:28).
• Galen Rupp, 39, claimed 2nd at 4:55/mi — the oldest man on the M35-39 podium, and the only finisher to hold his position in the men's field rock-steady from start to finish.
• A five-man logjam between 7th and 11th place saw five runners finish within eight seconds of each other (1:13:52–1:14:00), making that stretch the most fiercely contested patch of the entire leaderboard.
• 2,452 men finished in M35-39, making it one of the deepest age groups on the course on a crisp, fast 40°F morning.

Sondre Nordstad Moen, 35, from Oslo, was simply in a different race. His 1:02:41 at 4:47 per mile put a 1:47 gap between himself and the entire rest of the M35-39 field. He ran with the men's field — sitting around 17th–20th among men throughout — and posted the 18th-fastest split among men on the 5K-to-10K stretch, confirming he was locked in and moving well through the middle miles. There was no drama at the front: Moen led wire to wire and never relinquished it.

Behind him, Galen Rupp ran a composed, metronomic race. The Portland native sat 26th among men at the opening 5K checkpoint and was still 25th at the finish — a model of even execution. His 1:04:28 (4:55/mi) was good enough for 2nd in M35-39 with a comfortable margin over 3rd-place Abelino Alatorre, who crossed in 1:11:36 after picking up ground with the 55th-fastest men's split on the 10K-to-15K segment, climbing from 85th to 72nd in the men's field before settling back to 73rd at the line.

The real theater unfolded in the chase pack. Matthias Seele (1:12:05) and Yohann Laurent (1:13:10) rounded out the top five, but positions 7 through 11 became a genuine scrum. Adrian Cabnal Chen (1:13:52), Christian Armando Ledezma Cisneros (1:13:55), Andre Borgen (1:13:56), and both Daniel Granton and Nick Grinlinton (1:14:00) — with Ryan Mulligan also at 1:14:00 — crammed into an eight-second window. Finishing order there was decided by fractions the clock barely captured. On a cold, clear morning with barely a breath of wind, the conditions were ideal; the racing, in that middle pack, was anything but calm.