M70-74: Lahjou Leads Wire-to-Wire in San Francisco

• Mustapha Lahjou, 73, wins M70-74 in 3:46:13 (8:38/mi), finishing more than four minutes clear of runner-up Heinz Raeber's 3:50:47.
• Raeber's relentless surge: he entered the men's field well outside the top 2,000 in the early miles and climbed steadily to finish 1,097th among men — one of the day's most dramatic sustained moves in the group.
• Five-second thriller for 5th–6th: Tetsuya Sonoda (4:58:19) and Changming Shih (4:58:25) were separated by just six seconds across 26.2 miles.
• 17 finishers completed the M70-74 race, ranging from Lahjou's 8:38/mi to Louis Christensen's 16:52/mi — a spread of more than three and a half hours.

Mustapha Lahjou, 73, from Montréal, ran a composed 3:46:13 to claim the M70-74 title on a breezy San Francisco morning — 59°F with a 15 mph wind that kept conditions honest but not brutal. His 8:38/mi average was a clear step above the field, and he held his position in the men's standings from the gun, never surrendering the lead. His one notable dip came between miles 20 and 22, where he ran the 828th-fastest split among all men on that segment, suggesting a brief rough patch in the final miles — but it cost him nothing at the front of his group.

The most compelling subplot belonged to Heinz Raeber, 71, of Oakland. Raeber was buried deep in the men's field through the first half, but he ran himself into contention with a methodical, segment-by-segment climb — posting the 435th-fastest split among men from miles 22 to 24 as he powered through the late stages. His final time of 3:50:47 at 8:48/mi put him firmly in second, a convincing 4:34 behind Lahjou but well clear of the rest. William Barth, 71, from Los Angeles, rounded out the podium in 4:23:06 (10:02/mi), more than 32 minutes back.

Behind the podium, Ming-Chen Yu, 73, of Palo Alto, finished 4th in 4:46:12 before the race's tightest battle played out for 5th and 6th. Tetsuya Sonoda, 72, traveling from Fukuoka, crossed in 4:58:19, with Changming Shih, 70, of Cupertino just six seconds behind at 4:58:25 — both averaging 11:23/mi across 26.2 miles. The back half of the field stretched all the way to Louis Christensen's 7:22:24, a reminder of what it takes simply to finish a marathon in San Francisco at 70-plus.