Two Cities Marathon M60-64: Lopez Leads Wire to Wire for a 3:43 Victory

• Tony Lopez (3:43:40, 8:32/mi) took the M60-64 title by nearly six minutes over a tight battle for second.
• Jun Meng (3:49:37) edged Henry Su (3:49:39) for second by just two seconds — the narrowest margin in the group.
• Javier Cruz (3:55:44) held fourth despite a steady fade through the back half; Roehl Caragao (4:00:14) rounded out the sub-4:01 contingent in fifth.
• 17 men finished in M60-64, with times ranging from Lopez's 3:43:40 down to David Giger's 6:38:20.

Tony Lopez, 62, of Templeton, was never seriously threatened. He entered the men's field in 159th place and steadily climbed to 120th by the finish, running a disciplined 8:32/mi on this flat, Boston-qualifying point-to-point course through the Fresno/Clovis corridor. His advantage over the field was established early and never surrendered — a composed, front-to-back performance that delivered a nearly six-minute cushion at the line.

The real drama in M60-64 played out behind him. Jun Meng (62, Monterey) and Henry Su (61, Fremont) waged a marathon-long battle that came down to a two-second verdict: Meng in 3:49:37, Su in 3:49:39. Meng got there with a strong close — he posted the 98th-fastest split in the field on the final 25.2M-to-finish stretch, while Su had made his move a touch earlier, running the 84th-fastest split in the field from 23M to 25.2M. Su caught up, but Meng had just enough left to hold on.

Javier Cruz (62, Bakersfield) tells a contrasting story. He was running in the men's field at 116th place through the early miles but slid back steadily, finishing fourth in 3:55:44 at 8:59/mi — a clear fade from his early ambition. Roehl Caragao (61, Fresno) showed a similar pattern, drifting back through the mid-race miles before finishing fifth in 4:00:14. Tim Greilich (4:02:41) and Hanoch Raviv (4:04:14) followed in sixth and seventh, with the rest of the 17-man field spread across a wide range of finishes all the way to David Giger's 6:38:20 in 17th.