M70-99: Kallet Leads Wire to Wire in Auburn Heat

• Andrew Kallet, 70, wins the M70-99 group in 2:19:14 (13:55/mi), finishing nearly 12 minutes clear of the field.
• Jerry Furlong, 82, is the story of the race — the oldest finisher by eight years, he climbed from 36th to 24th among men on the final leg to claim 2nd in 3:31:01.
• Tightest battle: David Bry and Dennis Scott finished 3rd and 4th separated by just 59 seconds after more than three hours of racing.
• Five men 70 and older finished a 10-mile trail run in 73°F heat — that alone deserves a mention.

Andrew Kallet set the tone from the gun. Running at 13:55 per mile across a warm April morning in Auburn, he held a steady position among the men throughout and never relinquished the lead in the M70-99 group. His margin at the line — 11:47 over second place — was decisive, the kind of gap that says the race for the win was settled early.

The real drama belonged to Jerry Furlong. At 82, he was the oldest man in this group by nearly a decade, and he ran like he had something to prove on the back half. Furlong gained ground steadily, moving from 36th to 27th among men through the middle stretch, then posting the 24th-fastest split among men on the Last Gasp-to-Finish segment to close at 24th among men overall. He crossed in 2:31:01 — a 15:06/mi average — and earned 2nd in the M70-99 group fair and square.

Behind him, David Bry and Dennis Scott ran the final miles locked together. Bry finished in 3:02:26, Scott in 3:03:25 — 59 seconds apart after 10 miles in the heat. Scott actually posted the stronger closing split on the Last Gasp segment, but Bry's earlier cushion held. Thomas Dovi rounded out the five finishers in 3:33:55, completing the group in a race where simply finishing in these conditions, at these ages, is its own achievement.