M25-29: Matata Surges to the Front and Never Looks Back

• Alex Matata (Tampa, FL) wins M25-29 in 42:24 — a 4:33/mi average that put him within 18 seconds of the all-time men's course record.
• Victor Shitsama (44:02) and Charlie Sweeney (44:37) rounded out the podium, with a 35-second gap separating 2nd from 3rd.
• The top-4 spread just 2:44 across Matata, Shitsama, Sweeney, and Tyler Berg (45:08) — four men all running sub-4:52 pace.
• Matata posted the fastest men's 5K→10K split in the entire field, the move that defined the race.

Alex Matata arrived in Utica running like a man with a plan. He entered the first 5K checkpoint sitting 4th among the men, patient and positioned. Then he unleashed the fastest men's 5K→10K split in the field — and by 10K he had moved to the front of the men's race and stayed there. His 42:24 finish at 4:33/mi is a result that belongs in the same conversation as the event's fastest-ever performances; only Jemal Yimer's 2023 course record of 42:06 and John Korir's 42:11 from 2024 stand ahead of it in the editions we have.

Victor Shitsama (Stillwater, OK) was the steadiest chaser, moving from 8th at 5K to 6th by 10K and holding that trajectory to a 44:02 finish for 2nd in M25-29. Charlie Sweeney (Boulder, CO) tracked a nearly identical arc — 12th to 8th to 8th among the men — and crossed in 44:37 for 3rd. Both men posted top-ten men's splits on the middle segment, and both ran Shitsama's 4:43/mi and Sweeney's 4:47/mi with real authority. Tyler Berg (Denver, CO) was right there too, finishing 4th in 45:08 at 4:51/mi after working his way up through the men's field across all three checkpoints.

Erik Spencer (Danbury, CT) was the next man through in 47:03, claiming 5th and posting the 13th-fastest men's 5K→10K split in the field — a genuine mid-race push that separated him from Gregory Jaindl (47:29, 6th) and the rest of the top ten. Behind them, Scott Loforte (48:26), Pelle Nogueira (48:36), John Derosa (48:44), and Brendan Carter (48:54) filled out 7th through 10th in a tight 28-second window. In a field of 726 finishers in M25-29, the depth was real — but on this humid July morning in Utica, it was Matata who made the race look easy.