M70-74: Mitsugu Mori Dominates San Francisco's Toughest Miles

• Mitsugu Mori, 72, wins in 4:29:15 — a 10:16/mi pace that put him more than 32 minutes clear of the field.
• Paul Park (5:01:46) edges Hossein Albekord (5:08:21) for second, with just over six and a half minutes separating them at the line.
• Reagan Rice (5:10:36) and Bob Ulloa (5:11:46) battled closely for 4th and 5th, finishing just 70 seconds apart — but Ulloa faded hard in the back half after running with the leaders early on.
• 13 finishers completed the full 26.2 miles through San Francisco's fog-cooled streets, from Carmel to Yuma to Richmond, VA.

Mitsugu Mori of Carmel, CA made the M70-74 race his own from the start. Running at 10:16/mi through 56°F overcast conditions, the 72-year-old built a lead that only grew as the miles accumulated — his margin over runner-up Paul Park at the finish was a commanding 32 minutes and 31 seconds. There was no drama at the top; this was a wire-to-wire statement.

The real storyline behind Mori was the slow-motion fade of Bob Ulloa. The 74-year-old from Porterville started aggressively — he was among the stronger men in the field through the opening segment — but he dropped steadily through the pack over the second half of the race, ultimately finishing 5th in 5:11:46. Reagan Rice, running a steadier 11:51/mi, caught and passed him to claim 4th in 5:10:36. Ulloa's closing split on the final stretch was slower than Rice's, sealing the swap. Meanwhile, Hossein Albekord of Winter Park, FL held 3rd in 5:08:21 at 11:46/mi, though he too drifted back through the men's field over the final miles — Paul Park's stronger finish (a 2,553rd-ranked closing split versus Albekord's 3,035th) kept second place firmly in Park's hands.

Further back, Leopoldo Rosales (5:12:31) and Gerald Wong (5:16:01) rounded out the top seven within a tight four-minute window of each other. Patrick Rearden (5:30:59), Roy Chen (5:49:43), Jon Dudley (5:55:35), and Leonard Abbeduto (5:59:56) each crossed before the six-hour mark, while Mohammed Miradi (6:35:26) and Michael Marr (6:48:08) closed out the field — every one of them finishing 26.2 miles through one of American road racing's most demanding urban courses.