M50-59 at Jed Smith Ultra Classic 50K: Wang holds off a charging Carboni and Kochavi

• Gary Wang (58, Corte Madera) won the M50-59 group in 5:15:56 — a 10:10/mi average across 31 fog-soaked miles in Sacramento.
• The podium was decided by minutes, not hours: Carboni finished 2nd in 5:19:46 (3:50 back), Kochavi 3rd in 5:22:09 (6:13 back) — both closing hard through the final lap.
• Kochavi posted the 12th-fastest final-lap split in the men's field on the Lap 5 (Marathon)→Finish segment; Carboni matched the 15th-fastest on that same stretch.
• A 2:19:14 gap separates the top four from the bottom four, with Joselito San Gabriel (6:24:34) through Charley Jones (7:35:10) running their own separate race at the back of the M50-59 field.

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Gary Wang came to Sacramento and ran a composed, measured 50K through the fog, holding a 10:10/mi pace to claim the M50-59 title in 5:15:56. His gender standings tell a story of quiet, steady climbing — moving from 17th among men at the early checkpoints up to 14th by mid-race, then settling back to 15th at the finish as fresher legs came through. He didn't blow the doors off; he simply didn't crack.

Behind him, Grant Carboni and Shiran Kochavi were both on the move when it mattered. Carboni, starting the day 27th among men, had climbed all the way to 16th by the finish — a significant upward march through the field. Kochavi was even more aggressive late, surging from 26th among men at the opening checkpoint to 17th at the line, and his 12th-fastest Lap 5→Finish split in the men's field was the sharpest closing kick of anyone in the M50-59 group. In the end, 3:50 separated 1st from 2nd, and another 2:23 put Kochavi in 3rd — a tight, well-earned podium.

Samuel Louie rounded out the top four in 5:38:31, finishing more than 16 minutes behind Wang but well clear of the rest. The final five finishers — from Joselito San Gabriel's 6:24:34 to Charley Jones's 7:35:10 — spread across over an hour of racing, each grinding out their own version of a cold, humid Sacramento ultra. Nine men started and nine men finished, which on a 50K day is a result worth noting on its own.