M75-79: Amano Leads Wire to Wire in San Francisco's Bracing Conditions

• Jun Amano won M75-79 in 2:20:24 (10:43/mi), finishing more than 17 minutes clear of the field.
• Jim Doti held off Charles Thompson for 2nd, crossing in 2:37:43 vs. Thompson's 2:47:08 — a gap of just over nine minutes.
• Kanny Liu, 75, rounded out the four-man field in 3:16:23 (14:59/mi).

Four men aged 75 to 79 toed the line in San Francisco on a brisk, blustery morning — 59°F, 17 mph winds off the bay, and 78% humidity — and every one of them earned their finish. Jun Amano, 79, set the tone immediately and never relinquished it. His 10:43/mi average was a full minute and nineteen seconds per mile faster than the next finisher, and his gender-place trajectory told the story of a controlled, confident effort: he climbed steadily through the field in the back half, moving from 1,480th to 1,419th among all men over the final miles.

Jim Doti, also 79, ran a measured race of his own. He made consistent progress through the men's field — moving from 1,920th to 1,742nd by the finish — and his 12:02/mi pace was enough to hold 2nd place comfortably. Charles Thompson, 76, of San Francisco, ran his home course in 2:47:08 (12:45/mi). Thompson was slightly quicker than Doti on the 10M–12M stretch, but Doti answered with a stronger 12M-to-finish split to keep the gap at just over nine minutes at the line.

Kanny Liu, 75, closed out the M75-79 field in 3:16:23, averaging 14:59/mi across the course. His gender-place numbers barely shifted across the entire race — a sign of a steady, self-contained effort against the wind and the hills. In a four-man field spanning four years of age, everyone who started finished — and on a course as demanding as San Francisco's, that's the first number that matters.