M65-69 at Peachtree: Ken Youngers Wins It at 69

• Ken Youngers took the M65-69 title in 42:57 (6:55/mi), edging Paul Beers by 12 seconds in a sharp battle at the front.
• The top three — Youngers, Beers, and Derek Froude — finished within 47 seconds of each other; 4th-place Casey Hannan was more than two minutes back.
• Roger Pittman and Tom Carroll both clocked 47:37 but finished 7th and 8th respectively — separated by the clock's finer digits.
• Nearly 1,000 men completed the M65-69 race on a warm, humid Atlanta morning.

Ken Youngers, the oldest man on the podium at 69, ran the sharpest race of the day in M65-69. He was sitting outside the top 900 among men through the early miles, but a strong 4M–5M segment — the 746th-fastest split among men on that stretch — helped him claw back ground, and he crossed in 42:57 at a 6:55-per-mile clip to claim the win. Fellow 69-year-old Paul Beers ran a similar trajectory, surging through the middle miles to close strongly, but Youngers had just enough of a cushion to hold him off by 12 seconds.

Derek Froude of Tampa made it a genuine three-man contest at the front. The 67-year-old ran a measured, consistent race — his position among men barely shifted across the final miles — and his 43:44 was good enough for 3rd. Behind him, Atlanta's own Casey Hannan ran a strong back half, posting the 1,234th-fastest men's split on the 5M-to-finish stretch, but the gap to the podium was already too large to bridge; he came home 4th in 45:48.

The middle of the field delivered its own drama. Jim Frondorf, Roger Pittman, and Tom Carroll all arrived within six seconds of one another between 47:15 and 47:21 — three men, three cities (Cincinnati, Winston, and Marietta), three finishes that required the timing mat to sort out. With 75°F heat and 68% humidity pressing down on Peachtree Road, every second of that separation was earned.