Fort Ord 25K M60-69: Fabing Leads Wire to Wire for the Age-Group Win

• Roger Fabing, 69, took the M60-69 title in 2:48:00 — a 10:49/mi average — moving from 47th to 30th among the men across the race's three segments.
• Winning margin: Fabing finished nearly 6 minutes clear of runner-up Manuel Gutierrez (2:53:59), who held off Dan Sivolella by another 6:35.
• Tightest battle on the back half: Sivolella (3:00:34) and Pete Randazzo (3:05:47) were separated by just over 5 minutes at the line, with Alan Shaffer (3:11:44) another 6 minutes back in 5th.
• Oldest, fastest: Fabing, at 69, was the eldest in the eight-man M60-69 field — and the quickest of them all.

Roger Fabing ran a composed, progressive race. Starting 47th among the men, he had already climbed to 44th by the Toro Creek checkpoint before a strong closing leg carried him all the way to 30th — a gain of 17 places across the field on a cool, damp morning at Fort Ord. That finishing stretch was no afterthought: Fabing posted the 25th-fastest Toro Creek→Finish split among the men, a genuinely strong close for any age group, let alone one where he was the oldest competitor by four years over Steve Decarli.

Manuel Gutierrez ran a steadier race — he was actually 37th among the men early on, dipped back to 41st through the middle section, then recovered to 39th by the finish. His 2:53:59 was good enough for 2nd in M60-69, but the gap to Fabing was clear. Sivolella, meanwhile, made the biggest positional climb of the group, surging from 64th to 48th among the men and posting the 36th-fastest Skyline→Toro Creek split — a strong middle segment that helped him hold off Randazzo for 3rd.

Behind the top five, Steve Decarli (3:17:57) and Ron Evans (3:19:49) were separated by just under two minutes in 6th and 7th. Chris Hansen completed all eight finishers in 4:20:42 — more than an hour behind Evans — but crossing the line at Fort Ord in any time on that terrain is worth the effort.