Barks & Brews 5K: Yanez dominates M60-64 with a sub-22 finish

• David Yanez (63, Roseville) won the M60-64 group in 21:31 — a 6:56/mi pace that put more than a minute of clear air between him and the rest of the field.
• Gregg Roh (60, Sacramento) claimed 2nd in 22:40, with John Nichols (60, Sacramento) rounding out the podium in 24:02 — an 18-second gap separating silver from bronze.
• The top-three all finished inside 24:02, while 4th-place Reginald Daniels crossed in 25:19 — meaning the podium was its own race within a race.
• 19 men finished across a span of nearly 47 minutes, from Yanez's 21:31 to Kevin Tarver's 1:08:33.

On a warm Sacramento morning — 73°F, clear skies, a light breeze — David Yanez made the M60-64 race look straightforward. Running 6:56 per mile at age 63, he finished in 21:31 and was never seriously threatened. His closing split on the 1M-to-finish stretch was the 52nd-fastest among the men in the broader field, a mark that speaks to a strong, sustained effort rather than a late fade.

Gregg Roh and John Nichols — both 60 and both Sacramento-area runners — fought out the battle for 2nd and 3rd. Roh held the edge, finishing in 22:40 to Nichols's 24:02. Notably, Nichols was one of the day's better closers in the group: he moved from 104th to 86th among men on that final stretch, gaining 18 places in the run-in. Roh, by contrast, slipped a few spots late, dropping from 61st to 68th among men over the same segment — though it was never enough to threaten his hold on 2nd.

Behind the podium, Michael Walden (64, Folsom) was the group's other notable closer, climbing from 134th to 118th among men on the final leg to secure 5th in 25:37. The field then spread out considerably: Ernest Shimizu and Mike Jimenez were tightly bunched in 6th and 7th (26:25 and 26:32), before a series of wider gaps opened up through the back half of the 19-man group. Every one of them finished, from front to back, on a fine Sacramento holiday morning.