M70-74 Half Marathon: Shasberger Runs Away with It in Virginia Beach Heat

• Michael Shasberger, 72, won the M70-74 group in 1:43:28 (7:54/mi) — more than four minutes clear of runner-up Jim Duffy.
• Jim Duffy, 72, ran a strong negative split, climbing from 537th to 495th among men across the race to claim 2nd in 1:47:39 (8:13/mi).
• Robbie Robins (3rd, 1:56:04) and Ray King (4th, 1:57:28) were separated by just 84 seconds — the closest battle on the podium below Duffy.
• 25 men aged 70–74 finished in conditions that made every minute hard: 71°F, 73% humidity, and a 17 mph wind off the Virginia Beach coast.

Michael Shasberger of Roanoke came out swinging and never let go. His 7:54/mi average is a genuinely impressive clip for a 72-year-old in this kind of weather — warm, humid, and breezy enough to sap energy on exposed stretches. His trajectory through the men's field tells its own story: he moved from 282nd among men at the 10K mark all the way back to 377th by the finish, meaning the race caught up to him in the later miles. But "caught up" is relative — he still crossed the line more than four minutes ahead of Duffy, a margin that was never seriously in doubt.

Jim Duffy, also 72 and racing out of Poquoson, ran the smarter tactical race of the two leaders. While Shasberger faded slightly through the field in the back half, Duffy steadily climbed — moving from 537th among men at the 10K to 493rd at 20K before settling at 495th at the finish. That kind of consistent forward momentum in tough conditions is no accident. He took 2nd in 1:47:39.

Behind the top two, Robbie Robins and Ray King waged a quiet battle for the final podium spot. Robins, 70, from Yorktown, put in his best relative work on the 15K-to-20K stretch, climbing through the men's field to eventually finish 3rd in 1:56:04. King, 71 out of Norfolk, kept pace but couldn't close the gap, finishing 4th in 1:57:28 — 84 seconds back. Craig Heinicke rounded out the top five in 2:09:03, though he faced a rougher back half, sliding through the men's field from 1,155th to 1,268th between 20K and the finish.

Further back, a tight cluster from 6th through 9th — Ben Leach, Alan McCollum, Geoffrey Bolton, and Bob Haran — all finished between 2:13 and 2:17, separated by less than five minutes across four runners. With 25 finishers completing the M70-74 half marathon on a genuinely difficult weather day, every one of them earned it.