Men's Half Marathon: Makinen Takes the Title in a Front-Pack Showdown

• William Makinen won the men's race in 1:10:19 (5:22/mi), posting the fastest men's split on the 2M→4M segment and leading from the second checkpoint to the finish.
• Dillon Hu ran the fastest men's split on the 6M→8M stretch but couldn't close a 2-minute gap, finishing 2nd in 1:12:19.
• Jeffrey Yau was the biggest mover in the top 10, climbing from 12th at the opening checkpoint all the way to 4th by the finish in 1:14:08, posting the 2nd-fastest men's split on the closing 12M→Finish segment.
• Three men — Guillermo Wenrich (1:15:44), Albert Marban (1:15:47), and Darren Corapcioglu (1:15:49) — finished 8th through 10th within a five-second window at 5:47/mi.

William Makinen, 26, of San Francisco, owned this race from early on. He moved into the lead by the 2M mark and never relinquished it, running a 5:22/mi average that was more than nine minutes per mile faster than the field's median pace. His margin over runner-up Dillon Hu was a commanding two minutes flat — a gap that tells the story of a wire-to-wire performance rather than a late surge. For context, the 2023 men's winner Luis Orta ran 1:08:34 and the 2022 winner Thomas Coyle ran 1:09:34, so Makinen's 1:10:19 slots just behind those marks — a strong winning time on a hilly San Francisco course in 17 mph winds.

Hu, 29, from Palo Alto, was the day's fastest man on the 6M→8M segment and held 2nd from the second checkpoint onward, finishing in 1:12:19 at 5:31/mi. Arman Soleimani, 31, of San Francisco, was methodical — starting 6th and steadily working forward, locking in 3rd at the 4M mark and holding it all the way to the tape in 1:13:21. His was the 2nd-fastest men's split on the 6M→8M stretch, meaning he and Hu were running nearly side by side through the middle miles before Soleimani settled into his position.

The most compelling climb through the field belonged to Jeffrey Yau. Starting outside the top ten, the 32-year-old from Anaheim was 12th through the early miles, then steadily reeled in competitors one by one, finishing 4th in 1:14:08 with the 2nd-fastest men's split on the closing 12M→Finish stretch. David Cai, 28, matched that late energy — 8th for most of the race, he posted the 4th-fastest closing split to finish 5th in 1:14:24. Behind them, Pedro Fuschillo (1:14:29) and Marco Aceves (1:14:41) rounded out the top seven, with the entire 6th-through-10th group separated by just 1:20. In a men's field of 2,065, the race at the front was tight, hard-fought, and decided on the hills.