Masters Men 5K: Selwyn Runs Away With It

• Mark Selwyn, 57, wins in 20:16 — a 6:31/mi pace that put 27 seconds of clear air between him and 2nd place.
• Jose Montemayor (2nd, 20:43) held off Jose Pacheco (3rd, 21:32) by 49 seconds, with the top three all under 22 minutes.
• David Betterton, 64, finishes 8th in 23:56 — the oldest man in the top ten, running 7:42/mi in a field dominated by athletes two decades younger.
• 150 masters men toed the line on a cool, nearly still Santa Rosa morning — ideal conditions for fast racing.

Mark Selwyn made his age look like a footnote. The 57-year-old from Palo Alto crossed in 20:16 at 6:31/mi, the sharpest pace in the Masters Men field by a meaningful margin. Montemayor, 13 years his junior at 44, was the closest challenger — finishing in 20:43 at 6:40/mi — but the gap was never truly in doubt. Selwyn ran like a man with a plan and executed it cleanly.

Behind Montemayor, local Santa Rosa runner Jose Pacheco claimed 3rd in 21:32, while 4th and 5th were tightly contested: Arturo Lopez (22:26) and Tiago Cardal Pais (22:33) were separated by just seven seconds. That's the closest battle of the day, two San Francisco Bay Area runners — San Jose and Mountain View — trading pace for the final podium-adjacent spot.

The story deeper in the field belongs to David Betterton. At 64, he ran 23:56 to finish 8th overall in the Masters Men — a 7:42/mi effort that put him ahead of runners more than 20 years younger. Fellow 64-year-old Michael Jenquin (10th, 24:41) also cracked the top ten, making the sexagenarian contingent one of the quiet highlights of the race. Jiten Gore, 59, slotted in between them at 9th with a 24:36.

The field spread out steadily after the top ten, with Scott Steinberg (11th, 25:02) through Reinier Janssen (20th, 27:43) covering a range of about 2:41 across ten finishers — a sign of a competitive but well-distributed Masters Men field across all 150 who finished on a fine August morning in Santa Rosa.