M65-69: Jong Kim Wins a Battle Decided in the Final Miles

• Winner: Jong Kim (65, Valencia) crossed in 3:00:18 at a 6:53/mi pace — but the real drama was David Lamb leading on time until the closing stretch.
• Podium gap: Sangho Seo posted the fastest finish among the top three at 2:56:47 (6:45/mi), yet his mid-race fade cost him the top spot — he finished 3rd despite the quickest average pace in the group.
• 5th–6th photo: Beom Nyeon Kim (3:11:12) and Michael Hunt (3:11:36) were separated by just 24 seconds across 26.2 miles.
• Field spread: The 24 finishers in M65-69 ranged from Jong Kim's 3:00:18 down to a 4:22:45 from Vien Chiem — a window of over 82 minutes across the group.

The M65-69 race was genuinely unsettled deep into the back half. David Lamb (65, Pacific Palisades) came through the first half in stronger overall position than Jong Kim — his gender tracking showed him ahead of Kim through the early miles — and his 2:59:16 finish at 6:50/mi was actually the fastest raw time of the top two. But finishing time alone doesn't decide the division: Jong Kim's 3:00:18 at 6:53/mi earned him first place, with Lamb slotting in second. The margin between them — just over a minute — reflects how tightly these two raced the full 26.2 miles under a warm, humid Long Beach morning.

The most intriguing subplot belonged to Sangho Seo (65, Los Angeles). He ran the boldest early pace of the podium trio, sitting in strong overall position through the first half, but his gender tracking tells a clear story: he moved from a high position at the 5.5-mile mark backward through 13.1 and again through 20 miles, while both Kim and Lamb were surging forward through the field in the second half. Seo's 2:56:47 at 6:45/mi was the fastest pace among the top three — and it wasn't enough. He faded to third as the race wore on, a reminder that pacing the back half of a marathon in 72°F humidity is its own discipline.

Further back, the battle between Beom Nyeon Kim (67, Fullerton) and Michael Hunt (66, Oxnard) was one of the quieter gems of the day: 24 seconds separated them at the line — 3:11:12 to 3:11:36 — across more than two hours of racing. Paul Hernandez (69, Santa Ana) was the oldest athlete in the top eight, finishing 8th in 3:17:54, a result worth noting at 69. The field stretched all the way to Vien Chiem's 4:22:45 in 20th, with four more finishers beyond that — 24 men in total who got it done in Long Beach.