M30-34: Simbassa Dominates in the Heat

• Abbabiya Simbassa won the M30-34 field in 43:28 (4:40/mi) — a commanding 3:18 gap over runner-up Joseph Whelan.
• Simbassa ran the 2nd-fastest 10K→Finish split among all men, moving from 4th to 3rd in the men's field on that closing stretch.
• Patrick Dermody (56:39) and Travis Chewning-Kulick (56:39) finished 10th and 11th with the same displayed time — but Dermody's place confirms he edged across first.
• 641 finishers made M30-34 one of the deepest fields on the course, with 20th place (Zack Fitzsimmons) clocking a solid 59:40.

Abbabiya Simbassa of Flagstaff, AZ made the M30-34 race his own from the gun. Running at 4:40 per mile through 75°F heat and 90% humidity, he crossed in 43:28 — a time that put him 3rd in the men's field at the finish and within shouting distance of the all-time course record. He wasn't just fast early, either: the 2nd-fastest 10K-to-finish split among all men tells the story of someone who closed hard when others were fading in the thick Utica air.

Behind Simbassa, Joseph Whelan of Webster, NY ran a clean race to claim 2nd in M30-34 in 46:46 (5:01/mi), finishing 13th among all men. Rob Napolitano of Brick, NJ rounded out the podium in 48:55 (5:15/mi), moving steadily through the men's field from 27th at the 10K mark to 19th at the finish — one of the better closing moves in the group.

The battle for 4th and 5th played out in the 50-minute range, with Stephen Paddock (50:54) holding off Jordon Hoffman (51:05) by just 11 seconds. Notably, both actually slipped back in the men's standings on the second half — Paddock from 26th to 28th, Hoffman from 28th to 30th — meaning the heat took a real toll on that pair late. Stephen Rathbun finished 6th in 51:32, and John Longo came home 7th in 53:04 to close out a competitive top seven.

Further back, the race stayed tight through the teens. Tyler Beck (59:19), Aidan Taylor (59:23), Anthony Bucci (59:26), Matthew Baird (59:39), and Zack Fitzsimmons (59:40) all finished within 21 seconds of each other across 16th through 20th place — a genuine five-man scrum to close out the listed field in a 641-runner group that stretched well beyond the final timing mat.