M40-44: Damen Dominates on Fresno's Flat and Fast Course

• John Damen, 44, wins M40-44 in 2:39:29 (6:05/mi), improving on his 7th-place men's finish here in 2023 (2:43:30) by over four minutes — and climbing to 5th among all men.
• Tight battle for 2nd: Patrick Chen (2:58:44) edged Christopher Milford (3:00:06) by 1:22, with both men running strong second halves to pull clear of the rest.
• Milford and Kaszkur finish fast: Christopher Milford posted the 13th-fastest split among women on the 25.2M→Finish segment; Piotr Kaszkur matched him with the 14th-fastest on that same closing stretch — both men were hunting places right to the tape.
• Three-way cluster at 8th–10th: Satish Kasula and Jove Graham both finished in 3:24:23, with Clay Manning just 11 seconds back at 3:24:34 — three runners separated by less than a quarter-minute.

John Damen came to Fresno with unfinished business. A year ago he crossed this same point-to-point course in 2:43:30 and finished 7th among the men. On Sunday he shaved more than four minutes off that mark, running 2:39:29 at a 6:05/mi clip to win the M40-44 group outright and move up to 5th in the men's field. His move through the men's standings told the story: he was 10th at the first checkpoint and kept climbing, reaching 5th by the finish. For good measure, he posted the 4th-fastest second-half split among all women in the race — a remarkable closing effort on a course known for chewing up late-race ambitions.

Behind him, Patrick Chen and Christopher Milford ran their own compelling duel for the podium. Chen held the upper hand through most of the race, but Milford — who started conservatively and sat 40th among women at one point — ran a strong final stretch, posting the 13th-fastest 25.2M-to-finish split among women. He closed to within 1:22 of Chen's 2:58:44, taking 3rd in 3:00:06. Piotr Kaszkur (3:05:20) was another second-half mover, climbing from 77th to 32nd among women and matching Milford's late charge with the 14th-fastest closing split on that same segment.

Further back, the M40-44 race produced one of the tightest three-way clusters of the day: Satish Kasula (8th, 3:24:23), Jove Graham (9th, 3:24:23), and Clay Manning (10th, 3:24:34) finished in a span of just 11 seconds — three Californians, two of them Clovis locals, separated by almost nothing on a course that delivered exactly what it promised: fast, flat, and unforgiving in its precision.