Masters Men: Damen Dominates in 2:39:29

• John Damen won the Masters Men race in 2:39:29 (6:05/mi) — more than 15 minutes clear of 2nd place, and a 4-minute improvement on his 7th-place men's finish here in 2023 (2:43:30).
• Cris Flores and Patrick Chen staged a tight battle for 2nd and 3rd, finishing in 2:55:02 and 2:58:44 respectively — with J.K. Lundberg just three seconds back in 4th at 2:58:47, posting the 18th-fastest split on the final 25.2M→Finish stretch.
• Christopher Milford (5th, 3:00:06) closed the hardest of the top five, recording the 13th-fastest split in the field on that same closing segment — moving from 29th to 25th among the men in the final miles.
• Alex Silverman, age 67, finished 13th in 3:14:03 (7:24/mi) — the oldest finisher among the listed Masters Men.

John Damen came to Fresno's flat, point-to-point course with unfinished business. A year after finishing 7th among the men in 2:43:30, the 44-year-old from Moraga ran a completely different race — steadily climbing through the men's field from 10th at the first checkpoint all the way to 5th by the finish, and posting the 4th-fastest second-half split among the men along the way. His 2:39:29 was not just a commanding Masters Men victory; it was a genuine statement performance, with 6:05/mi sustained over 26.2 miles on a Boston-qualifier course.

Behind him, the race for the podium was anything but settled until late. Cris Flores (2nd, 2:55:02) held his position through the middle miles but faded through the men's field in the second half. Patrick Chen (3rd, 2:58:44) was the mirror image — moving from 45th among the men at the halfway point all the way to 23rd by the finish, posting the 21st-fastest second-half split to lock up 3rd. J.K. Lundberg (4th, 2:58:47) matched Chen's closing speed almost exactly in finish time — three seconds the difference — but it was Chen who ran the faster second half to make up ground, while Lundberg's strong final kick (18th-fastest on the closing segment) was just enough to hold off Christopher Milford (5th, 3:00:06), who posted the 13th-fastest closing split in the field.

Kei Ito (6th, 3:01:34) and Piotr Kaszkur (7th, 3:05:20) rounded out the top seven before the field spread out across the Central Valley afternoon. Among the 135 Masters Men finishers, Alex Silverman's 3:14:03 at age 67 — good for 13th — stands as one of the day's quietly remarkable efforts.