M Podium: Kipngeno holds off a hard-charging Smith at Broken Arrow Skyrace Ascent

• Patrick Kipngeno won the M Podium in 37:59 (10:31/mi), holding the lead from start to finish.
• Cameron Smith posted the fastest closing split (KT 22→Finish) in the field, slicing the gap to just 10 seconds at the line.
• Philemon Ombogo Kiriago completed the podium in 38:22, just 23 seconds off the win despite the 4th-fastest closing split in the field.
• All three men finished within 23 seconds across a course ranging from 6,257 to 8,845 feet — a brutally compressed result at altitude.

Patrick Kipngeno ran a controlled, wire-to-wire race, holding 1st from the opening checkpoint through the finish to claim the M Podium title in 37:59. At 10:31 per mile across a course that climbs into legitimately thin air — topping out near 8,845 feet — that kind of sustained pace demands real mountain running credentials. Kipngeno, out of Naivasha, showed exactly that.

The race's most compelling subplot belonged to Cameron Smith. Running out of Crested Butte, Colorado — a town that sits above 8,900 feet, so altitude was no stranger to him — Smith was 3rd at KT 22 and then unleashed the fastest closing split in the entire field to surge to 2nd. He crossed in 38:09, just 10 seconds behind Kipngeno. That finish was earned on the run home, not given.

Philemon Ombogo Kiriago, the youngest of the three at 23 and also from Naivasha, ran the reverse arc: he held 2nd through KT 22 before being overtaken by Smith's late charge. His 4th-fastest closing split was strong, but not enough to answer Smith's kick. Kiriago finished 3rd in 38:22 — 13 seconds behind Smith, 23 behind Kipngeno.

Three men, 23 seconds separating them, on one of the more unforgiving ascent courses in American trail running. The M Podium at Broken Arrow 2026 delivered exactly what the name promises — a fight all the way to the finish line.