M70-74 at Shamrock Marathon: Joon Ki Lee Edges a Hard-Fought Battle at 70

• Joon Ki Lee won the M70-74 group in 4:04:46 (9:20/mi), holding off Stacy Bagal by just 55 seconds.
• Stacy Bagal, 73, finished 2nd in 4:05:41 (9:22/mi) — the oldest finisher in the group and the closest challenger.
• Jonathan Lyle and Richard Barton completed the four-man field, finishing in 5:02:15 and 5:53:36 respectively — separated by over 50 minutes at the back.
• All four crossed the line in 71°F heat with a 17 mph wind and 73% humidity — conditions that made every minute earned.

Four men aged 70–73 took on a warm, blustery Virginia Beach morning, and the M70-74 group delivered one of the tightest finishes of the day at the top. Joon Ki Lee of Clarksburg, MD, claimed the win in 4:04:46, averaging a 9:20/mi pace through the heat and wind. That is a genuinely impressive effort in these conditions at 70 years old, and the numbers back it up: Lee was moving well late in the race, climbing from 539th to 468th among men in the final stretch — a meaningful surge when most runners are fading.

Right on his heels was Stacy Bagal of Sarasota, FL, who at 73 was the oldest man in the group and finished just 55 seconds back in 4:05:41 (9:22/mi). Bagal tracked Lee closely through the middle miles — the two were separated by only fractions of pace per mile for most of the race — before Lee pulled clear in the closing segment. A 55-second margin over 26.2 miles is razor-thin, and Bagal's run deserves full credit.

Jonathan Lyle of Manakin Sabot, VA, finished 3rd in 5:02:15 at an 11:32/mi pace. His early miles showed some promise — he was moving through the men's field in the 10K–15K segment — but the back half of the race took its toll, and he slipped steadily through the standings from around the 15K mark onward, eventually finishing nearly an hour behind the top two.

Richard Barton of Greenville, OH, rounded out the group in 4th, crossing in 5:53:36 at a 13:29/mi average. In a field of just four, finishing is its own statement, and Barton did exactly that — steady throughout, never straying far from his position in the men's standings across all six tracked checkpoints.