M Podium: Allen Holds the Summit, Gray and Smith Give Chase

• Christian Allen (Orem, UT) won the M Podium in 23:49 at an 10:58/mi clip, posting the fastest split on the Snow King→Finish segment.
• Joseph Gray (Colorado Springs, CO) crossed in 24:13 — just 24 seconds back — with the second-fastest Snow King→Finish split in the field.
• Cameron Smith (Crested Butte, CO) rounded out the podium in 24:25, the third-fastest Snow King→Finish split, finishing 36 seconds behind Allen.
• The gap from 1st to 3rd across the entire M Podium was a razor-thin 36 seconds.

Christian Allen led from wire to wire in the M Podium, holding the top spot throughout and finishing in 23:49 — a controlled, purposeful effort across a course that climbs from roughly 6,300 to nearly 8,000 feet. At that elevation, where the air carries noticeably less oxygen, sustaining a sub-11-minute-per-mile pace on a skyrace ascent is no small thing. Allen didn't just survive the thin air — he dominated it, sealing the win with the fastest split on the Snow King→Finish stretch.

Joseph Gray, the 41-year-old from Colorado Springs, was relentless in pursuit. A 24-second margin at the finish might look comfortable on paper, but Gray ran the second-fastest Snow King→Finish split in the M Podium, meaning he was pressing Allen all the way to the line. At 11:08/mi, Gray gave nothing away and made Allen earn every second of that gap.

Cameron Smith, representing Crested Butte — itself a high-altitude town that likely left him well-prepared for Tahoe's thin air — came home third in 24:25, matching his rivals with the third-fastest closing split. The 36-second spread across all three finishers tells the real story of this race: three athletes locked in a tight, high-altitude battle from start to finish, separated by fractions of effort rather than gaps in ability.