Men's Race: Geay Surges Past the Field to Take the B.A.A. 10K Title

• Gabriel Geay wins in 27:49 (4:29/mi), running the fastest 5K→8K split among the men to seize the lead and never let it go.
• Tsegay Kidanu led early — sitting 1st through the opening 5K — before fading to 4th at 28:18, a 29-second swing to the winner.
• Diego Estrada's closing kick — the 3rd-fastest 8K→Finish split among the men — lifted him from 6th to 5th (28:19), shaving 21 seconds off his 2022 finish here (28:40).
• A field of 3,700 men braved 85°F heat and 64% humidity on the streets of Boston, making every sub-28:30 performance all the more striking.

The story of this race was written in the middle miles. Tsegay Kidanu, just 21 years old, came out of the gates fastest among the men and held the lead through 5K. But somewhere between 5K and 8K, Gabriel Geay — who had been sitting 3rd — uncorked the fastest split of any man in the field over that stretch, vaulting from 3rd to 1st. At 27:49 and a 4:29/mi average, it was a performance built for hot-weather conditions that punished anyone who went out too hard.

Edwin Kurgat gave chase, posting the 2nd-fastest 5K→8K split in the men's field, but couldn't close the gap — finishing 2nd in 28:01, 12 seconds back. Alex Masai rounded out the podium in 28:09, running the 2nd-fastest closing split (8K→Finish) among the men, while Kidanu's early lead evaporated into a 4th-place finish at 28:18. The top four were separated by just 29 seconds, a tight cluster given the demanding conditions.

The race's best comeback story belonged to Diego Estrada. The Flagstaff-based runner sat 6th at both the 5K and 8K marks, then unleashed the 3rd-fastest closing split in the men's field to steal 5th place in 28:19 — one second ahead of Geoffrey Koech (6th, 28:32). It was also a meaningful personal benchmark at this race: Estrada had finished 9th here in 2022 in 28:40, and he answered with a sharper, faster, better-placed effort in 2023. Further back, Reed Fischer (10th, 29:15) and Reid Buchanan (13th, 29:40) led a deep American chase pack through the heat.