M70-79 Ascent: Flanigan rules the mountain at 76

• James Flanigan won M70-79 in 1:25:59 (23:49/mi avg), finishing nearly 17 minutes clear of runner-up Daniel Perrot.
• Brian Bartlett, at 78 the oldest finisher in the group, crossed 4th in 1:55:29 — a remarkable effort at the top end of the age range.
• The final stretch (KT 22→Finish) reshuffled positions across the board, with Flanigan gaining ground among the men's field while others held steady or slipped.
• Six men completed the Ascent, spanning a 55-minute window from first to last.

James Flanigan, 76, from Davis, CA, delivered the dominant performance of the M70-79 field on a course that climbs from 6,257 to 8,845 feet through Palisades Tahoe. At 23:49/mi average — brisk by any measure at altitude — he put nearly 17 minutes between himself and Daniel Perrot (1:43:04) and was never seriously threatened. The gap to third-place David Hochschartner stretched to nearly 28 minutes, making this a wire-to-wire statement.

Perrot, 71, out of Rocklin, CA, was a clear second but couldn't close on Flanigan over the closing KT 22→Finish leg, where Perrot's split actually cost him a couple of spots among the broader men's field. Hochschartner (1:53:49) and Brian Bartlett (1:55:29) ran a tight battle for third and fourth — just 100 seconds separated them at the line — with Bartlett, at 78, showing that age is no disqualifier on this mountain. Dave Tennant (2:10:02) rounded out the top five, and Richard May of Mammoth Lakes — who may well know this high-altitude terrain better than anyone in the field — completed the course in 2:21:32 to close out all six finishers.

The overcast skies and mild 61°F temperatures offered reasonable racing conditions, though the thin air above 7,500 feet is a constant equalizer for anyone not fully acclimated. That six men in their seventies — the oldest pushing 79 — finished the Broken Arrow Ascent at all is the real headline underneath the results. Flanigan's win was commanding; the field's collective finish was something else entirely.