M60-64: Levoni Dominates as 28 Finish the Alps

• Gilberto Levoni, 62, won M60-64 in 9:44:18 — a 15:40/mi pace across 60 km and 3,500 m of climbing from Orsières to Chamonix.
• Tony Williams (3rd, 10:56:32) and Jiro Takikawa (2nd, 11:09:11) separated the podium's 2nd and 3rd spots by just 12:39 — but Williams ran the race in reverse finishing order to his gender ranking, while Takikawa's late surge through the men's field (from 753rd to 485th) was the more dramatic climb.
• Takikawa posted the 8th-fastest men's split on Champex-Lac entrée→sortie in the entire men's field — a standout burst that helped him reel in Williams over the second half.
• Hans-Bernd Mergelmeyer (5th, 11:06:43) edged past Christian Binder (6th, 11:55:42) by nearly 49 minutes, capping a steady rise through the men's field on the second half.

Gilberto Levoni's victory in M60-64 was never seriously in doubt. While his gender ranking drifted from 263rd early to as deep as 322nd at one checkpoint — the altitude and accumulated climbing doing their work — he reeled it back to 285th by the finish, crossing in 9:44:18. That's a commanding 1:12:14 clear of the next finisher, a margin that tells the story plainly: no one in this group was racing him.

The real drama unfolded behind him. Tony Williams (3rd, 10:56:32) held a solid position in the men's field throughout — hovering in the 440s–480s from start to finish — and looked set to claim the runner-up spot. But Jiro Takikawa, 63, had other plans. Starting deep in the men's field at 753rd, Takikawa ran a relentless progression, climbing all the way to 485th by the line. His 8th-fastest men's split through Champex-Lac was the engine of that charge, and it was enough to leapfrog Williams for 2nd place in 11:09:11 — 12:39 behind Williams's finish time but ahead where it counted.

Jun Xian (4th, 11:17:13) and Hans-Bernd Mergelmeyer (5th, 11:06:43) both made strong second-half moves — Xian climbing from 800th in the men's field to 505th, Mergelmeyer from 695th to 474th. All 28 finishers completed a course that now includes a new high point at 2,321 m between Col de Balme and Col des Posettes, with the back of the field — Guang Bing Zhang (20th, 14:33:38) and those who followed — pushing deep into the 14-hour window to earn their Chamonix finish.