Santa Rosa 10K: Pazoff Owns the M60-69 Field

• Gary Pazoff wins in 50:44 (8:10/mi), the only finisher in the M60-69 field to break 51 minutes.
• 35-second gap to 2nd: Mark Dedow crossed in 51:19 (8:16/mi), with Patrick Gookin a further 1:44 back in 3rd at 53:03.
• Top-to-bottom spread: The 20 listed finishers spanned from Pazoff's 50:44 to Rogelio Armenta Sr.'s 1:24:59 — a 34-minute range across the M60-69 field.
• Local contingent: Four of the top nine finishers called Santa Rosa or the immediate North Bay home, including 4th-place Arturo Garcia (54:45) racing in his own backyard.

Gary Pazoff, 61, from Bainbridge Island, WA, came to Santa Rosa and left no doubt. His 50:44 — an 8:10/mi clip on a cool, drizzly morning — put him clear of the M60-69 field from the jump, and nobody got close. The nearest challenger, 67-year-old Mark Dedow of Naples, FL, pushed through in 51:19 at 8:16/mi, a solid run that simply wasn't enough. Dedow's effort is worth noting: at 67, he was among the oldest men in the top tier and ran faster than every 61, 62, 63, 64, and 65-year-old in the field except Pazoff himself.

Patrick Gookin (64, Marina Del Rey) rounded out the podium in 53:03, while Arturo Garcia and Edward Carr — both Bay Area men — filled out the top five in 54:45 and 55:46 respectively. Behind them, Jim Stillens (56:56) and Craig Perry (1:00:16) kept the 61-year-old contingent well represented, with four men of that age finishing in the top eight.

The middle of the field showed real competitive depth, with Jeff Peltier (1:05:10), Johnny Lui (1:05:59), and Paul Forrest (1:04:08) clustered within about a minute of each other from 9th through 11th. Further back, Derek Schwarz (1:17:41) and Joseph Filice (1:17:55) were separated by just 14 seconds at 14th and 15th, while Ramses Sargiss (1:21:14) and Dennis K Kraft (1:22:12) ran within a minute of each other in 17th and 18th. All 25 men in the M60-69 field finished — no small thing on a wet August morning in Santa Rosa.