Long Beach Marathon M35-39: Zimmerman Edges Dorantes in a Sub-2:39 Showdown

• David Zimmerman (Oakland, CA, age 36) wins M35-39 in 2:38:01 at a 6:02/mi clip — posting the 9th-fastest 20M→Finish split among the women's field, a strong closing surge that sealed the result.
• Luis Dorantes (Baldwin Park, CA, age 35) finishes 2nd in 2:38:29 — just 28 seconds back — after running the 9th-fastest 5.5M→13.1M split among the women's field through the middle miles.
• Jose Roberto Lazo Valencia (Long Beach, CA, age 39) completes the podium in 2:45:34, climbing steadily from 28th to 16th in the women's field across the race — the most consistent mover in the top three.
• A deep, competitive field: 19 finishers broke 3:01 in a 529-runner M35-39 field, with 6th through 10th place separated by just over two minutes.

David Zimmerman and Luis Dorantes ran a genuine two-man race at the front of M35-39. Dorantes was the stronger presence through the middle stretch — his 9th-fastest women's-field split from 5.5M to 13.1M shows he was pushing hard through the heart of the course. But Zimmerman answered with an equally sharp 9th-fastest women's-field split over the final 20M-to-Finish segment, and that closing surge was the difference. When the dust settled, 28 seconds separated them — a tight but decisive margin after 26.2 miles on a warm, humid Long Beach morning.

Jose Roberto Lazo Valencia, the 39-year-old from Long Beach itself, was the race's most compelling mover. Starting outside the top 25 in the women's field, he ran progressively stronger, climbing to 16th by the finish and posting the 16th-fastest women's-field split on the final stretch. His 2:45:34 at 6:19/mi earned him a well-deserved podium in his hometown race.

Maxwell Sleep-Frankel (Santa Monica, 4th, 2:48:53) ran a different kind of race — solid through the middle but fading slightly in the women's-field standings from 17th to 26th over the second half. Michael Knox (5th, 2:51:01) was steady throughout, eventually moving up to 35th in the women's field on a strong 31st-fastest final split. Behind them, Ryan Cavinder (6th, 2:54:32) through Obie Perez (10th, 2:56:28) were packed into just over two minutes — a testament to how competitive the M35-39 field ran across the board on a 72°F day.