M60-69: Peoples Wins a Battle of Granite Bay Locals

• Michael Peoples (age 62, Orangevale) took the M60-69 title in 6:21:23 — nearly 11 minutes clear of runner-up Dale Smelser.
• Dale Smelser (age 63, Vacaville) closed strongly, posting the 20th-fastest split on the Second Half among men to claw from 40th to 28th in the men's field by the finish.
• Theo Parisek (age 64, Rescue) rounded out the three-man group in 7:12:50, holding steady in the men's field across the back half of the course.

Three men in their sixties lined up for the Rio Del Lago 50K M60-69 group on a warm, clear November day in Granite Bay — 72°F and sunny — and Michael Peoples made the clearest statement of the afternoon. Running a 12:17/mile average across 50 kilometers of Sierra Nevada foothills, the 62-year-old from Orangevale crossed in 6:21:23 and was never seriously threatened for the top spot. He moved efficiently through the men's field in the early going, reaching as high as 10th among men before settling into 25th by the finish — a sign of a well-managed effort rather than a dramatic fade.

Dale Smelser told a different kind of story. The 63-year-old from Vacaville started cautiously — 40th among men at the first checkpoint — and spent the entire race moving forward. His best work came on the Second Half of the course, where he posted the 20th-fastest split among men on that segment, and he ultimately finished 28th in the men's field. His final time of 6:32:14 (12:37/mile) left him 10:51 behind Peoples, but the trajectory of his race was all forward momentum.

Theo Parisek, the eldest of the group at 64 and hailing from Rescue, CA, finished in 7:12:50 — a 13:56/mile average that reflects the genuine difficulty of covering this distance in the heat. He was notably quicker than Smelser on the Beals Point to Willow Creek segment, posting the 33rd-fastest men's split there, but couldn't close the gap that had opened up in the middle miles. A 40-minute gap separates second and third — a wide margin that tells the story of three athletes having very different days on the same course.