M25-29: Ciolkowski Runs Away With It in San Francisco

• Nicholas Ciolkowski, 2:27:54 (5:38/mi) — wins M25-29 by 3:29 over Andrew Snyder, posting the 2nd-fastest split among all women on the 6.43–10.92 mile stretch along the way.
• Andrew Snyder storms through the field — from 18th among men at the first checkpoint to 3rd by mile 10.92, then 3rd at the line in 2:31:23 (5:46/mi), running the 3rd-fastest split in the field on the Garmin Hill Challenge segment.
• Connor Bootz, the biggest mover — entered the men's field ranked 193rd at the first checkpoint and finished 9th in M25-29 at 2:40:12 (6:07/mi), posting the 4th-fastest split in the field on the 14.95–18 mile stretch.
• Jason Yen returns and slows — back for another crack at SF after finishing 9th among men in 2022 (2:45:15), Yen crossed 11th in M25-29 this year in 2:50:08 — a notably slower 6:29/mi average.

Nicholas Ciolkowski owned this race from the gun. Running out of Berkeley, the 26-year-old never left the top four among men the entire morning and crossed in 2:27:54 — a 5:38/mi clip that would have challenged the 2022 overall men's winner Simon Ricci (2:31:42). His 6.43–10.92 mile split was the 2nd-fastest among all women in the field, a marker of just how hard he was pushing through that mid-race stretch. The 3:29 gap he built over second place was decisive and was never seriously in doubt by the back half.

The real drama in M25-29 played out behind him. Andrew Snyder, a San Francisco local, spent the first third of the race buried in the field — 18th among men at the opening checkpoint — before systematically dismantling the competition. He ran the 3rd-fastest split in the field on the Garmin Hill Challenge segment, one of the race's most punishing stretches, and had clawed his way to 3rd among men by mile 10.92. He held that position to the finish, clocking 2:31:23 for a strong runner-up result in M25-29.

Caleb Bendewald of Granbury, TX was the model of consistency, hovering between 4th and 7th among men all day before locking in 3rd at 2:35:23 (5:56/mi), his 18–24 mile split ranking 5th-fastest in the field. Robert Pedersen (2:37:32) rounded out the podium in 4th, his 5.7–6.43 mile split ranking 3rd-fastest in the field. Connor Bootz's charge from 193rd among men at checkpoint one all the way to 9th in M25-29 at 2:40:12 was the most dramatic arc of the day — he saved his best running for miles 14.95–18, posting the 4th-fastest split in the field on that stretch.

Further back, the field tightened considerably. Raymond Gilmartin (7th, 2:47:44) and Matthew Rytel (8th, 2:47:58) were separated by just 14 seconds across 26.2 miles, while Mitchell Sanders (9th, 2:49:27) and Moses Wolfe-Polgar (10th, 2:49:57) were within 30 seconds of each other. In a field of 732 finishers, the depth in M25-29 was real — and Ciolkowski's 2:27:54 stood well clear of all of it.