Boston Marathon M75-79: Lee Cook Leads a Tight Pack Through the Newton Hills

• Lee Cook (SC) won the M75-79 group in 3:55:55 (8:60/mi), the only finisher to break the 4-hour mark — by a margin of just 2:18 over runner-up Julio Aguirre.
• The top five were separated by just 8:26, with places 2 through 5 all clustered between 3:58:13 and 4:04:21.
• Daniel Flowers (TX) and Andrew Suozzo (CA) finished 6th and 7th in nearly identical times — 4:07:07 and 4:07:12 — separated by just five seconds across 26.2 miles.
• Amby Burfoot (CT) rounded out the top 20 in 4:40:45 (10:42/mi), completing a 49-strong M75-79 field on the point-to-point course from Hopkinton to Copley Square.

On a cool, drizzly Patriots' Day in Boston — 49°F with a 10 mph wind and 90% humidity — 49 men aged 75–79 took on one of the World Marathon Majors, and Lee Cook of South Carolina made it look controlled. His 3:55:55 at 8:60/mi was the only sub-4:00 effort in the group, and he held it together across the Newton Hills to claim the M75-79 title with a cushion that, while modest, was decisive.

Behind him, New Jersey's Julio Aguirre (3:58:13) and Julio Fernandez (3:59:26) gave Cook his closest chase, both finishing within the 4-minute barrier's shadow. Fernandez was notably stronger in the early miles — his gender-place progression showed him moving up through the field from 11,989th to 11,512th between the start and the 25K mark — before settling into 3rd at 9:08/mi. Maryland's Eric Melby (4th, 4:00:52) was a steady closer, his gender place ticking upward in the final segments, while James Taylor, also of Maryland, rounded out the top five in 4:04:21.

The race's most striking footnote came at places 6 and 7: Texan Daniel Flowers (4:07:07) and Californian Andrew Suozzo (4:07:12) ran virtually the entire marathon together, arriving just five seconds apart. Further back, the field spread out across a 45-minute window, with Alain Moureaux of Quebec 10th in 4:25:03 and Connecticut's Amby Burfoot 20th in 4:40:45, each navigating Heartbreak Hill on their own terms at 75-plus years old.