M70+ Marathon: Steve Yee Leads a Field That Earned Every Mile

• Steve Yee, 72, wins the M70+ race in 3:48:21 (8:43/mi), finishing nearly 9 minutes clear of the field.
• Pat Brew and Robin Schiller stage the race's best second-half battle — Brew (3:57:07) edges Schiller (3:59:20) by 2:13, both climbing through the men's field over the final 13.1 miles.
• Eduardo Tovar, 75, becomes the oldest finisher to crack the top four, completing 26.2 miles in 4:25:24 at 10:07/mi.
• Eight men, ages 70–75, finished a full marathon on a cool, misty morning in Santa Rosa's wine country.

Steve Yee made the M70+ race his own from start to finish. The 72-year-old from Sacramento crossed in 3:48:21 — an 8:43/mi effort that left a margin of nearly nine minutes over second place. That kind of cushion in a field of 70-and-older marathoners isn't a gap; it's a statement.

The real drama played out behind him. Pat Brew, 70, of Pacific Grove and Robin Schiller, 73, the hometown runner from Santa Rosa, were locked in a compelling back-half chase. Both moved through the men's field over the 13.1M-to-finish stretch — Brew climbing from 606th to 485th among men, Schiller from 607th to 504th — and both ran that second half faster than most of the field around them. Brew's 419th-fastest men's split on that segment was just a tick quicker than Schiller's 447th, and the finish times reflected it: 3:57:07 to 3:59:20. Brew held on, but Schiller made him work for every second of that 2:13 margin.

Eduardo Tovar, 75 years old and making the trip up from Whittier, finished fourth in 4:25:24. Tony Tuttle (4:34:13) rounded out the top five in 73, also gaining ground over the final half despite the slower pace. Robert Flynn (5:02:29), Gene Stokes (5:49:14), and Duane Davis (6:15:39) completed all eight finishers — every one of them covering 26.2 miles through Sonoma County on a humid August morning, medal and full-zip jacket well earned.