Boilermaker 15K M55-59: Brew Pulls Clear for the Win

• Patric Brew, 55, wins in 1:01:35 (6:36/mi) — a 1:35 margin over 2nd place in a 272-man field.
• Brew's steady climb: entered the men's field outside the top 500 at 5K, then moved to 312th by 10K and 300th by the finish — a consistent, grinding advance through the pack.
• David Olds and Ed Menis staged a late charge: both clocked 6:47/mi and finished just 5 seconds apart (1:03:10 vs. 1:03:15), with Olds moving from 450th to 345th among men in the final 5K to edge Menis for 2nd.
• Thomas Kracker (4th, 1:03:56) through Steven Fossel (5th, 1:04:33): a 37-second gap separates 4th from 5th, while only 21 seconds cover 2nd through 4th — the podium fight was tight.

Patric Brew of Kinderhook, NY made his intentions clear early. He was already well up the men's field at the 5K mark and never relented, running 6:36/mi through a muggy 88% humidity morning in Utica to finish in 1:01:35 — a winning margin of 1:35 over his nearest M55-59 rival. That kind of gap doesn't happen by accident; it's the product of a controlled, confident effort from the gun.

The real drama in this group played out behind him. David Olds (Syracuse, NY) and Ed Menis (Schenectady, NY) both averaged 6:47/mi and ran the final 5K with serious purpose — Olds climbing from 450th to 345th among men in that stretch, Menis from 397th to 350th. Olds's stronger closing split was the difference: he crossed in 1:03:10, with Menis just five seconds back in 1:03:15. Thomas Kracker of Delmar, NY rounded out the top four in 1:03:56, making it three 59-year-olds in the top four — a reminder that the back half of the M55-59 bracket had plenty of firepower.

Steven Fossel (Evergreen, CO) and David Grout (Valatie, NY) were nearly inseparable at 5th and 6th, finishing in 1:04:33 and 1:04:37 respectively — both averaging 6:56/mi. Alain Daignault, Paul Humphrey, and Eric Kasper kept the pace honest through the top ten, with Kasper's 1:06:05 at 7:05/mi anchoring that group. All told, 272 men finished M55-59 on a warm, still morning on the streets of Utica — with Brew standing tallest among them.