San Francisco Half Marathon M70-74: Bob Kemp Runs Away With It

• Bob Kemp, 70, wins in 1:47:53 — an 8:14/mi average that left the field nearly 18 minutes behind the runner-up.
• Chris Davies (2nd, 2:06:14) and Edward Fong (3rd, 2:15:15) rounded out the podium, separated by just over nine minutes.
• Places 11–13 finish within 8 seconds of each other: Paul Travis (11th, 2:33:22), Ray Abraham (12th, 2:33:28), and Greg Nicoll (13th, 2:33:30).
• 24 finishers completed the M70-74 race, with athletes representing San Francisco, New York, Finland, England, and beyond.

Bob Kemp came to San Francisco and made it look straightforward. The 70-year-old from Saratoga crossed in 1:47:53 — an 8:14/mi clip that no one in the M70-74 field came close to matching. His moves through the men's field told the same story: he was climbing steadily the entire way, and by the finish he had carved his way to 465th among all men. The win was never seriously in doubt.

Behind Kemp, Chris Davies of Shabbington ran a composed 2:06:14 to claim second, holding his position through the back half despite a slightly slower closing leg. Edward Fong (2:15:15) and Ming-Chen Yu (2:16:29) ran nearly stride for stride through much of the course — Fong edged ahead on the 10.54M–11.05M segment where he posted the 1,528th-fastest split in the field on that stretch, compared to Yu's 2,102nd, and that's where the 1:14 gap between them was effectively decided.

Steve Behlen told a different story. The 72-year-old from Sanger entered the race moving well — tracking near 1,806th among men through the early miles — but faded steadily as the miles wore on, eventually finishing 5th in 2:19:44. His early pace didn't hold, and the field caught up on the back half.

The midpack delivered one of the race's most striking moments: Paul Travis (11th, 2:33:22), Ray Abraham (12th, 2:33:28), and Greg Nicoll (13th, 2:33:30) finished within eight seconds of each other after 13.1 miles through the hills of San Francisco. That's a photo-finish cluster spread across three separate places — a testament to how evenly matched this group was over the full distance.