M55-59: Pedro Ramirez Dominates the Two Cities Marathon in 3:06:42

• Pedro Ramirez won the M55-59 group in 3:06:42 (7:07/mi), finishing more than 6 minutes clear of runner-up Alexander Pritsky (3:13:11).
• Alexander Pritsky ran the strongest closing stretch in the group, posting the 39th-fastest split from 25.2M to the finish among all men.
• Third through fifth place was a genuine battle: Carlos Aguilera (3:45:18), Charul Sadwelkar (3:46:25), and Hector Estrada (3:54:24) were separated by just under nine minutes across three spots.
• 24 men finished in the M55-59 group, with the field spanning from Ramirez's 7:07/mi to finishers north of 12:00/mi.

Pedro Ramirez turned in one of the sharpest performances in the M55-59 group, running 3:06:42 at 7:07/mi on a warm November morning — 74°F and clear skies in Fresno. The race wasn't just a wire-to-wire cruise, either: his tracking shows him climbing steadily through the men's field from 73rd at the first checkpoint all the way to 42nd by mile 25, a sustained move that underscores just how well he managed the back half. His second-half split ranked 42nd among all men in the race — a genuinely fast effort in the context of the full field.

Alexander Pritsky ran a disciplined race of his own, finishing in 3:13:11 (7:22/mi) and similarly advancing through the men's field across every checkpoint, reaching 62nd by the finish. His 25.2M-to-finish split ranked 39th among all men — meaning he was closing hard when others were fading. The 6:29 gap between him and Ramirez reflects a real difference in pace throughout, but Pritsky's finish was authoritative in its own right.

Behind the top two, the race for the podium played out over a much tighter stretch of real estate. Carlos Aguilera came home third in 3:45:18 (8:36/mi), with Charul Sadwelkar — who actually started the race moving faster and sat ahead of Aguilera at the early checkpoints — finishing fourth in 3:46:25 after Aguilera gradually moved through. Hector Estrada rounded out the top five in 3:54:24, posting the 99th-fastest split among all men on the 23M-to-25.2M segment — one of the stronger late-race pushes in the group. Stephen Bruno (3:58:10) and Jorge Barahona (4:14:57) completed a solid top seven on a day that tested everyone with the late-season heat.