Men's Race: Garrett Patrick Surges from Seventh to Take San Francisco

• Winner: Garrett Patrick (Daly City, CA) — 2:26:25 (5:35/mi), rallying from 7th among men at the first checkpoint to claim the title
• Closest battle: Billy Ulrich led for much of the race and held on for 2nd in 2:27:48 — just 1:23 behind Patrick at the line
• Best late charge: Jack Rosencrans moved from 19th among men at the midpoint all the way to 5th by the finish, clocking the 2nd-fastest men's split from miles 20–22
• Biggest improver, year over year: Ian Tibbals jumped from 8th in 2025 (2:35:56) to 3rd in 2026 (2:30:43), shaving more than five minutes off his San Francisco time

The story of the men's race was written in the second half. Billy Ulrich, the 29-year-old from Boulder, came out swinging — he posted the fastest men's split from miles 2–4 and sat at the front of the men's field as early as the first checkpoint, leading through multiple segments. But Garrett Patrick, a 33-year-old running in his home region of Daly City, had a different plan. Starting the race in 7th among men, Patrick steadily climbed — 3rd, then 2nd — before finally seizing the lead and never relinquishing it, backing up that move with the fastest men's split on the miles 6–8 stretch. He crossed in 2:26:25, averaging 5:35 per mile on a cool but breezy San Francisco morning.

Ulrich refused to fold. He finished 2nd in 2:27:48, only 1:23 back, and his early aggression was genuine — the fastest men's split from miles 2–4 tells you he wasn't sitting in. Jordan Crist (2:32:05, 4th) also ran that early stretch sharply, posting the 2nd-fastest men's split there, and held his position throughout for a composed 4th-place finish. Ian Tibbals, meanwhile, was the race's most improved returner: the 25-year-old from Rye, NY finished 3rd in 2:30:43 after placing 8th here in 2025 at 2:35:56 — a five-minute improvement and a podium to show for it, aided by the 2nd-fastest men's split from miles 18–20.

The back half of the top ten was fiercely competitive. Tie Zheng (6th, 2:35:06), Derek Fearon (7th, 2:35:14), and Adrian Haywas (8th, 2:35:29) were separated by just 23 seconds across three places. Jack Rosencrans delivered the race's most dramatic late surge, climbing from 19th among men at mile 20 to 5th at the finish in 2:34:43 — his miles-20-to-22 split the 2nd-fastest among the men all day. In a field of 5,052 finishers, the top twenty were packed within nine minutes of the winner, making for one of the tighter competitive clusters the men's race has seen in recent editions.