M60-64 at the 2026 NYC Half: Udagawa runs away with it

• Masamichi Udagawa won the M60-64 group in 1:25:38 (6:32/mi), nearly five minutes clear of the field.
• The battle for 2nd through 6th was ferocious: five men finished within a 45-second window (1:29:55–1:30:40), with places 3–6 separated by just 45 seconds.
• Stuart Adesilu (Crawley, West Sussex) arrived 5th overall in M60-64 but posted the fastest closing split (20K→Finish) among that podium chase group, suggesting he was the strongest finisher in the pack.
• 513 men completed the M60-64 race on a crisp 40°F morning from Prospect Park to Central Park.

Masamichi Udagawa, 61, from New York, made this look like a different race entirely. His 1:25:38 at 6:32 per mile wasn't just a win — it was a statement. He crossed the line nearly five full minutes ahead of the next finisher, a margin that speaks for itself in a field of 513. His gender place climbed steadily through the race, moving from 1,024th at the first checkpoint all the way to 880th at the finish, meaning he was reeling in runners across the entire men's field right to the tape.

Behind him, the real drama unfolded in a frantic five-man scrum for the remaining podium spots. Stuart Adesilu of Crawley, England, actually led that group through the finish in the fastest time — 1:29:55 at 6:52/mi — but the official order placed him 5th in M60-64, with Zhengxiang Pan (1:30:16), Paul Giuliano (1:30:25), Alberto Perez (1:30:39), and Jian Zhang (1:30:40) slotting in ahead of him by the scoring. Adesilu's consolation: his 20K-to-finish closing split was the sharpest of the bunch, and he was clearly gaining ground when it mattered most.

Pan, Giuliano, Perez, and Zhang — all from the New Jersey corridor — ran shoulder to shoulder for much of the race. The 24-second gap separating 2nd from 6th in a half marathon is razor-thin, and any one of them could have shuffled the order with a slightly different final mile. Conor O'Driscoll, 64, the oldest man in the top eight, held on for 8th in 1:34:03, a solid run that showed the depth across the full age range of this group on a cold, clear March morning.