Fort Ord 25K M40-49: Charmoz Runs Away With It

• Alex Charmoz won the M40-49 group in 2:13:39 (8:36/mi), finishing more than 7 minutes clear of runner-up Kris Kent.
• Charmoz posted the 3rd-fastest Toro Creek→Finish split among the men, a closing surge that cemented his lead.
• Chas Christiansen made the biggest move of the day in M40-49, charging from deep in the field to 5th place by the finish.
• The gap from 10th to 11th was just 3 seconds — Adrian Rodriguez (2:59:08) edging Chris Cardinal (2:59:11) in a razor-thin finish.

Alex Charmoz, 41, out of Idyllwild, was never seriously threatened. He ran 8:36/mi through the fog and 91% humidity at Fort Ord, and his Toro Creek→Finish leg was among the sharpest closing splits in the men's field. By that final segment he had moved to 3rd among the men overall, a reflection of just how strong his finishing stretch was relative to the broader field. Kent (2:20:46) and Gino Signoracci (2:22:30) rounded out the podium, separated by under two minutes, with Signoracci notably posting the 4th-fastest Skyline→Toro Creek split among the men — a strong middle stretch that helped him hold off any challengers behind.

Viktor Spalek, the youngest on the podium at 40, came in 4th at 2:34:31 but faded from his early position, slipping back through the men's standings as the race wore on. Chas Christiansen told the opposite story: starting well back in the men's field, he reeled in competitor after competitor to land 5th in M40-49 at 2:39:39, with the 10th-fastest Toro Creek→Finish split among the men powering his charge.

Deeper in the field, the race got tight in a hurry. Rodriguez and Cardinal crossed within 3 seconds of each other at the 10th and 11th spots, and a cluster of four runners — Filan, Pinano, Fernandez, and Cardinal — all finished within 76 seconds of one another between 2:59:08 and 3:00:27. For a 25K on technical Fort Ord terrain in heavy, damp air, that kind of compression makes for a genuinely hard-fought mid-pack battle. Twenty-four men finished; the group delivered results across a full hour of racing.