Men's San Francisco Marathon: Pedersen Surges Late to Claim the Title

• Robert Pedersen, 27, wins in 2:25:49 (5:34/mi) — charging from 6th at the first checkpoint all the way to the front by mile 18, then holding off the field to the finish.
• Nate Pendleton runs the strongest late race, posting the fastest split from mile 18 to mile 25 to lock up 2nd in 2:28:10 — 2:21 back of Pedersen.
• Sheel Patel leads early, fades late: the local San Franciscan ran 1st through the first half before slipping to 3rd by the finish in 2:33:00.
• Michael Vernau, runner-up here in 2024 (2:28:19), crossed 6th in 2:35:31 — a reminder of how much deeper this year's front end ran.

Robert Pedersen didn't take the lead by blasting off the front. He was 6th among the men at the opening checkpoint, then methodically climbed — 4th, 2nd, and holding there through the middle miles — before finally seizing the top spot in the back half and never relinquishing it. His winning 5:34/mi average across San Francisco's famously rolling course is a performance that stands on its own numbers. He also posted the fastest split on the mile-5.55-to-6.52 stretch, a sign that his surge wasn't just patient — it was aggressive when it counted.

Sheel Patel, running in his home city, gave the crowd something to cheer early. He was 2nd at the gun and had moved into the lead by the second checkpoint, holding 1st through five consecutive checkpoints. But the back half belonged to others: Patel faded to 3rd by the finish, crossing in 2:33:00 (5:50/mi). Nick Karayianis, another San Francisco local, was the model of consistency — never higher than 5th, never lower than 7th — and earned 4th in 2:33:24, just 24 seconds behind Patel.

Nate Pendleton, 25, from Sammamish, WA, told his story in the second half. He was 7th at the midpoint, then reeled in runner after runner, clocking the fastest split in the men's field from mile 18 to mile 25 to secure 2nd in 2:28:10. That closing surge wasn't quite enough to catch Pedersen, who had already built his cushion, but it was the most eye-catching move of the final miles. Alexandros Anemogiannis rounded out the top five in 2:35:19, posting the 4th-fastest second-half split among the men on his way from 14th at the opening checkpoint to 5th at the tape — the biggest positive mover in the top ten.