M45-49: Stachowiak Runs Away from a Deep NYC Half Field

• Maciej Stachowiak won the M45-49 group in 1:14:12 (5:40/mi), finishing more than a minute clear of the field.
• Duncan Nyasinga ran the fastest closing segment (20K to finish) among the top finishers, surging from 5th to 3rd to claim the final podium spot in 1:15:31.
• Places 6–8 finished within 2 seconds of each other — Frederick Hines (1:18:16), Emmanuel Houze (1:18:17), and Orlando Quichimbo (1:18:18) — a genuine three-way scramble.
• Angel Velazquez crossed 2nd in M45-49 at 1:19:02 despite a significant fade: he was running in the top 130 among men at the halfway point before drifting back to 327th among men by the finish.

On a crisp 40°F March morning in New York, Maciej Stachowiak turned the M45-49 race into a solo time trial. The 47-year-old from Warsaw held a position in the mid-to-upper 120s among men through the bulk of the race and never wavered, clicking off 5:40-per-mile pace to finish in 1:14:12 — a margin of over a minute on the next M45-49 finisher. In a group of 1,421, that kind of separation at the front is a statement.

Behind him, the podium story was written in the second half of the race. Duncan Nyasinga (1:15:31, 5:46/mi) was the strongest closer of the top finishers, posting the 117th-fastest split in the field on the 20K-to-finish stretch and moving from 5th to 3rd in the men's standings over that final push. Alex Pomerleau held 4th in 1:16:55, while Andrew Smith rounded out the top five in 1:17:38.

The most dramatic arc belonged to Angel Velazquez. The 45-year-old from East Elmhurst ran with real authority early — sitting 126th among men at 10K — but the back half unraveled, and he faded to 327th among men at the line. He still held 2nd in M45-49 at 1:19:02, but it was a harder-earned result than it looked on paper.

Further down, the battle for 6th through 8th was one of the tightest of the day in this group: Hines, Houze, and Quichimbo finished in 1:18:16, 1:18:17, and 1:18:18 — three men, three seconds, three separate places decided by fractions the clock barely shows.