M75-79: Sato Holds Off Doti in a Two-Man Battle Across San Francisco

• Kazumi Sato, 76, won the M75-79 race in 2:33:02 (11:40/mi), finishing nearly three minutes clear of his only rival.
• Jim Doti, 78, crossed in 2:35:58 (11:54/mi) to claim second — the two men separated by 2:56.
• Doti made up meaningful ground in the back half, climbing from well off the pace to close the gap — but Sato's cushion held.
• Both men finished the San Francisco Half Marathon at 76 and 78 years old respectively — the entire M75-79 field, and a tough one at that.

With only two men on the line in the M75-79 race, every second mattered and every move was visible. Kazumi Sato, 76, from Mountain View, set the tone early and kept it. Running 11:40 per mile across the hilly San Francisco course, he crossed in 2:33:02 — a commanding effort that put nearly three minutes between himself and his sole competitor.

Jim Doti, 78, from Villa Park, had a different race arc. He ran the second half with more urgency, registering the 1,341st-fastest men's split on the final stretch from 11.9 miles to the finish — a stronger close than Sato's back-half pace. That surge allowed Doti to claw back ground in the closing miles, but Sato's earlier lead proved too much to overcome. Doti finished in 2:35:58 (11:54/mi), taking second place with a respectable margin over any hypothetical third — had there been one.

Two men in their late 70s completing a half marathon through the hills of San Francisco is the whole story here, and it's a good one. Sato takes the M75-79 title; Doti, two years his senior, pushed him the whole way.