Men's Race: Kimble Dominates as Wehan and Hoe Stage a Late Charge

• Adam Kimble, 6:40:55 — led wire-to-wire and posted the fastest Willow Creek→Beals Point split among the men, finishing 38:33 ahead of 2nd place.
• Christopher Wehan closed in 7:19:28 (8:47/mi), holding 2nd from checkpoint 2 onward with the 2nd-fastest Willow Creek→Beals Point split.
• Nate Hoe improved from 4th here in 2025 (8:35:21) to 3rd in 2026 (7:37:18) — nearly an hour faster than his previous finish.
• Jon Kline, 50, ran from 2nd at the opening checkpoint to 4th at the line in 7:37:57 — just 39 seconds behind Hoe.

Adam Kimble, 39, of Truckee was never threatened. He held 1st place at every checkpoint across all 50 miles, running 8:01/mi on a warm April day in Auburn — 73°F, clear skies — and sealed it with the fastest Willow Creek→Beals Point split in the men's field. His 6:40:55 finish left the rest of the field chasing a gap that only grew. By the time the dust settled, runner-up Christopher Wehan crossed in 7:19:28, a margin of 38 and a half minutes.

Wehan, 44, out of Arcata, made his move early — climbing from 4th at the first checkpoint to 2nd by checkpoint 2 and never relinquishing it. His 2nd-fastest Willow Creek→Beals Point split confirmed he was the strongest finisher behind Kimble on that stretch. Right behind him, Seattle's Nate Hoe, 32, ran a race that deserves its own headline: he was 4th here in 2025 in 8:35:21, and came back to claim 3rd in 7:37:18 — a dramatic improvement. Hoe held 3rd from start to finish, his position as steady as his pacing.

Jon Kline, 50, of Sacramento had the most eventful positional story of the top five. He opened at 2nd, then slipped to 4th by checkpoint 2 and held there to the finish in 7:37:57 — just 39 seconds behind Hoe. That gap is the story of a catch-up that almost wasn't: Hoe ran Willow Creek→Beals Point faster, pulling clear of Kline in those final miles. Further back, Jeff Moss worked his way through the field all day — sitting 7th, then dipping to 9th, before climbing steadily to 5th at the line in 8:19:41. The men's field of 102 finishers spread wide from there, with Nathaniel Carter (9:32:27) and Numoakyi Ngissah (9:32:28) separated by a single second in 12th and 13th.