Masters Men at Run the Parkway 20 Miler: Capelli Claims the Crown

• Marco Capelli, 54, wins in 2:06:55 (6:21/mi) — a year after finishing 2nd among the men overall here in 2025 with a 2:06:18, he returns and takes the Masters Men title outright.
• 5:40 gap to 2nd — Devin Harris (2:12:35) and Peter Kelleher (2:13:59) separated by just 1:24 for the podium spots 2nd and 3rd.
• Robert Schwartz's late charge — starting 27th among the men, Schwartz ran the 8th-fastest men's split from Mile 16 to the finish to climb all the way to 4th in Masters Men (2:16:35).
• 218 finishers filled out one of the deepest Masters Men fields on the parkway, with the top 20 all finishing under 7:38/mi pace.

Marco Capelli came to Folsom with unfinished business. Last year he crossed this same finish line 2nd among all men in 2:06:18 — fast enough to win on most days, but not that one. This time, running 6:21/mi and holding 6th place among all men from Mile 4 onward, the 54-year-old from El Dorado Hills made it stick. His 7th-fastest men's split on the Mile 4–Mile 15.6 middle stretch showed he wasn't just surviving the distance — he was racing it. The Masters Men title is the reward for coming back.

Behind him, Devin Harris and Peter Kelleher staged the race's best two-man duel. Harris, 41, from Arbuckle ran the 11th-fastest men's split through that same middle segment and moved from 13th to 11th among men by Mile 4, holding that position all the way home in 2:12:35. Kelleher, 49, had the opposite trajectory on the gender leaderboard — sliding from 9th to 12th after Mile 4 — but still clocked 2:13:59 at 6:42/mi for 3rd. The 1:24 between them is close; the paces tell the real story of who was catching whom.

The subplot of the day belonged to Robert Schwartz of Truckee. Sitting 27th among men at Mile 4, Schwartz ground his way forward through the middle miles and then uncorked the 8th-fastest men's split from Mile 16 to the finish — a closing kick that delivered him 4th in Masters Men at 2:16:35. Adrian Chavez, meanwhile, ran the reverse arc: 12th among men early, 19th by the end, finishing 5th in 2:18:56. Between them, those two stories capture exactly what a 20-miler does — it finds out who prepared for the back half.