Fort Ord 25K M50-59: Hiestand Dominates, Hamilton Holds Off a Charging Pack

• John Hiestand, 57, wins the M50-59 group in 2:17:49 (8:52/mi), finishing more than 12 minutes clear of runner-up Siddhartha Hamilton.
• Hiestand surged through the men's field on the final leg, moving from 13th among men at the first checkpoint to 11th at Toro Creek, then rocketing to 5th by the finish — posting the 4th-fastest Toro Creek→Finish split in the men's field.
• The podium spread nearly 20 minutes: Hamilton (2:29:53) and Fred Watson (2:37:56) separated by just over 8 minutes for 2nd and 3rd.
• 17 M50-59 finishers covered a wide range, from Hiestand's 8:52/mi to Michael Shoup's 4:30:08 finish — a gap of over two hours across the age group.

John Hiestand made the M50-59 race look straightforward, but the splits tell a more dynamic story. The 57-year-old from Monterey didn't just hold position — he actively hunted down competitors on the back half of the course. Moving from 13th among men at the opening checkpoint all the way to 5th by the finish line, he was one of the day's great movers across the entire men's field, not just within his age group. His 4th-fastest Toro Creek→Finish split among the men underlines that his best running came when it mattered most.

Behind him, Siddhartha Hamilton of Carmel Valley held 2nd in M50-59 with a 2:29:53 (9:39/mi), though his trajectory among the men's field ran in the opposite direction — slipping from 12th at the first checkpoint to 17th by the finish. He got the job done for the silver, but the final leg belonged to others. Fred Watson (Marina, 2:37:56) rounded out the podium in 3rd, and Oliver Block and Vince Grimaldi — both moving steadily forward through the men's field across the race — filled 4th and 5th respectively, each finishing under 2:49.

The back half of the M50-59 field spread across a remarkable range of efforts. From Oscar Gray's 2:50:17 in 6th through to Michael Shoup's 4:30:08 in 17th, Fort Ord's trails tested every runner differently on a cool, damp February morning. All 17 finishers earned their medal on a course that clearly had plenty to say about pacing and patience.