Long Beach Half Marathon X25-29: Ricky Gupta Dominates with a Late-Race Surge

• Ricky Gupta took the X25-29 title in 1:48:41 (8:17/mi), posting the fastest women's split on the final stretch from 10.8M to the finish.
• Matthew Vang claimed 2nd in 2:03:09, a gap of 14:28 back — but his 6th-fastest women's split on the 5.5M–10.8M segment showed real strength in the middle miles.
• Quetzal Arevalo held 3rd in 2:28:08, finishing nearly 25 minutes behind Vang and a full 39:27 off the pace of Gupta.
• The back half of the field spanned nearly 45 minutes, from Angeline le's 4th-place 2:48:34 to Kiani Wish's 8th-place 3:33:40.

Ricky Gupta made the X25-29 race look decisive from the moment the field spread out. The 26-year-old from Long Beach moved from 6th among the women at the first checkpoint all the way to 2nd by 10.8 miles, and then sealed the win with the fastest women's split on the final leg to the finish — crossing in 1:48:41 at an 8:17/mi clip. That closing surge wasn't just fast relative to this field; it was the defining move of the race.

Matthew Vang tracked a steadier course through the middle of the race, logging the 6th-fastest women's split on the 5.5M–10.8M segment and moving from 7th to 5th among the women's field by the finish. His 2:03:09 was a comfortable 2nd in the X25-29 field, though Gupta's lead was never seriously in question. Quetzal Arevalo rounded out the podium in 3rd with a 2:28:08, holding a consistent position through the race — 9th among the women at both early checkpoints before settling into 10th by the close.

Behind the top three, Angeline le (4th, 2:48:34) and Jocelyn Ramirez (5th, 2:58:10) each cracked the three-hour mark in their own right, while Lise Pixler (6th, 3:11:23) and VIVI Santos (7th, 3:12:18) finished just 55 seconds apart after 13+ miles. Kiani Wish, the hometown finisher from Long Beach, closed out the eight-person field in 3:33:40 — a strong effort to complete the 13.1 miles on a cool, clear morning on her home turf.