M35-39 at the Shamrock 8K: Mazzanti Runs Away from a 270-Man Field

• Robert Mazzanti won the M35-39 group in 25:39 — a 5:10/mi pace that put more than five minutes of daylight between him and the rest of the field.
• The gap from 1st to 2nd was 5:22 — larger than the gap from 2nd place all the way down to 20th.
• Matthew Fiano (31:01) and Steven Preskitt (31:57) separated themselves from the chase pack, with a 56-second margin between 2nd and 3rd.
• Ryan Davis (32:37) and Steve Thornton (32:49) ran nearly in lockstep, separated by just 12 seconds over 8 kilometers.

Robert Mazzanti made this a one-man race. The 37-year-old from Richmond crossed in 25:39 — that's a 5:10-per-mile clip across 8 kilometers on a warm, humid Virginia Beach morning — and no one in the M35-39 group came close. Five minutes and 22 seconds is not a gap; it's a statement.

Behind him, Matthew Fiano and Steven Preskitt from Virginia Beach and Toano respectively ran a clean, controlled race to claim the podium spots. Fiano's 6:14/mi average earned him 2nd in 31:01, while Preskitt's 6:26 pace locked in 3rd at 31:57. The two were never really racing each other for position, but together they put a clear buffer between themselves and the next wave of challengers.

That next wave arrived in a tight cluster. Ryan Davis (32:37) and Steve Thornton (32:49) were separated by just 12 seconds — about 30 meters at their pace — making 4th and 5th the closest battle on the board. Ken Fay, Jon Wiegand, Jonathan Allen, and Brandon Barbarini then filled out positions 6 through 9 within a 23-second window, making the middle of the field genuinely competitive even as the top was already decided.

With 270 finishers, the M35-39 group was one of the largest on the course. The 62°F temperature and 76% humidity weren't brutal, but they were enough to make Mazzanti's sub-26-minute effort stand out even more sharply against the field.