M70-74: Bramley Dominates with a 7:40 Mile in Utica Heat

• James Bramley, 73, wins in 23:50 — a 7:40/mi pace that put 1:30 on runner-up Ted Lenio.
• Podium decided in under two minutes: Lenio (25:20) and Gary Lashure (25:38) were separated by just 18 seconds for 2nd and 3rd.
• Tom Jones and Thomas Bick both crossed in 31:12 — same clock, different places, with Jones holding 8th by the finest of margins over Bick in 9th.
• 47 men finished the M70-74 race on a warm Utica morning — 84°F, humid, and unforgiving for anyone pushing a hard pace.

James Bramley made this look authoritative. The 73-year-old from Clinton, NY, ran 23:50 at 7:40 per mile — a pace that would be brisk in any age group, let alone against a field of septuagenarians on a hot July morning. His margin of victory was a full 90 seconds over Ted Lenio, also 73, who came in from Rome, NY, in 25:20 at 8:09/mi. That gap didn't leave much drama at the top.

The real battle was for the final podium spot. Lenio's 25:20 and Gary Lashure's 25:38 set up a genuine fight for 2nd and 3rd, with the 70-year-old Lashure from Barneveld, NY, closing just 18 seconds back. Behind them, George Oswald (28:12) and Anthony Brigano (28:29) ran within 17 seconds of each other for 4th and 5th — another tight tussle, with Victor Powers (29:11) and Patrick Clark (29:42) rounding out the top seven.

Further back, the 31:12 finish shared on the clock by Tom Jones and Thomas Bick — 8th and 9th respectively — stands out. The timing system separated them, but only barely, making that one of the tightest adjacent-place finishes in the M70-74 field. The back half of the top 20 spread across a wide range, from Robert Delmerico's 32:03 in 10th to Alan Cohen's 37:52 in 20th — all of them grinding through the heat to earn their finish.