Boilermaker 15K Men: Matata Breaks Clear for a 42:24 Victory

• Alex Matata wins in 42:24 (4:33/mi), the fastest men's winning time at the Boilermaker since John Korir's 42:11 in 2024 — and within 18 seconds of Jemal Yimer's 42:06 course record.
• The race turned on the middle 5K: Matata, Sitonik, and Lipschitz posted the three fastest splits from 5K to 10K in the entire men's field — a collective surge that reshuffled the leaderboard and settled the podium order.
• Kiprono Sitonik (42:53) and Adam Lipschitz (43:14) rounded out the podium, with just 21 seconds separating 2nd from 3rd.
• Reid Buchanan (43:38) and Hillary Bor (43:40) were separated by just two seconds at the line — a hard-fought battle for 4th that Buchanan edged.

Alex Matata came to Utica and delivered one of the sharpest winning performances the Boilermaker has seen in recent years. The 28-year-old from Tampa ran 42:24 at a 4:33/mi clip — faster than John Korir's back-to-back wins in 2024 and 2025, and within striking distance of Yimer's 42:06 course record. The race unfolded in three acts: Matata entered the 5K checkpoint in 4th among the men, but the middle segment was where he made his decisive move. His 5K-to-10K split was the fastest in the men's field, and by 10K the race was his to lose. He never let go.

Behind him, the podium was forged in that same middle stretch. Sitonik (2nd, 42:53) and Lipschitz (3rd, 43:14) also posted the 2nd- and 3rd-fastest 5K-to-10K splits among the men — a remarkable concentration of speed at the front. Lipschitz made the sharpest positional move of the three, climbing from 9th at the 5K checkpoint all the way to 3rd by 10K and holding it to the finish. That 29-second gap between Matata and Lipschitz tells the story of a race that was decided in the middle miles.

The battle for 4th was the closest finish of the day at the front. Reid Buchanan (43:38) held off Hillary Bor (43:40) by two seconds — Bor posting the 4th-fastest 10K-to-finish split in the men's field in a late charge that nearly worked. Further back, Victor Shitsama (6th, 44:02), Futsum Zienasellassie (7th, 44:32), and Charlie Sweeney (8th, 44:37) filled out a competitive top ten across a men's field of 5,073 finishers. Stephen Rathbun — winner here in 2021 — returned to finish 20th in 48:11, a reminder of how the competitive ceiling at the Boilermaker has risen sharply since that year.