Long Beach Half Marathon: Evan Kim Owns the Course at 13

• Evan Kim, age 13, wins outright in 1:31:07 (6:57/mi), leading from start to finish and posting the fastest middle split in the field.
• Ricky Gupta storms home — starting 6th, he climbs to 2nd by the finish (1:48:41, 8:17/mi) with the fastest closing split of anyone in the race.
• Dimitri Rojas fades late — 2nd through the middle miles, he's overtaken by both Gupta and Maria Rebolleda Gomez to finish 4th in 1:55:35.
• Seven finishers break 2:10; the back half of the 26-person field spans from 2:24 to well past 3:10, a wide spread across a competitive Long Beach morning.

At 13 years old, Evan Kim of Irvine didn't just win — he was never seriously threatened. Kim led from the opening miles (1st through every checkpoint) and backed it up with the fastest split from 5.5M to 10.8M, finishing in 1:31:07 at a 6:57/mi clip. That's a performance that would be impressive from a seasoned adult runner, let alone a teenager.

Behind Kim, the real drama was Ricky Gupta's relentless charge through the field. The Long Beach local was sitting 6th at the 5.5-mile mark, but he kept pressing and moved to 2nd by 10.8 miles — and then sealed it with the fastest closing split of the race to finish in 1:48:41. Meanwhile, Dimitri Rojas of Los Angeles had been running in 2nd place through the middle stretch, but couldn't hold on, slipping to 4th (1:55:35, 8:49/mi) as both Gupta and Maria Rebolleda Gomez moved past him. Gomez, also out of Irvine, ran a steady race and claimed 3rd in 1:54:54 (8:46/mi), posting the 3rd-fastest middle split to make her move count.

Matthew Vang (5th, 2:03:09) and Scott Bentley (6th, 2:04:10) finished just over a minute apart, with Nancy Alcala (7th, 2:04:38) close behind — three runners separated by barely 90 seconds across that stretch. The 59°F morning with calm winds was about as favorable as Southern California gets for October racing, and the times across the board reflect it.