M60-69: Onusko edges Perry in a tight battle at Way Too Cool

• John Onusko won the M60-69 group in 2:07:25 (12:45/mi), holding off Matt Perry by just 41 seconds.
• Matt Perry ran 2:08:06 — close enough to pressure Onusko the whole way, with Perry's stronger Fire Station→HWY 49 split unable to fully close the gap.
• Jeff Rosenthal rounded out the podium in 2:11:38, finishing 3:32 back of Perry in 3rd.
• Bill Finkbeiner, 69, and David Bry, 69 — the two eldest in the group — finished 7th and 8th, Finkbeiner in 2:56:44 and Bry in 3:06:26.

The M60-69 race came down to a 41-second duel between two 60-year-olds. John Onusko of Garden Valley took the win in 2:07:25, averaging 12:45 per mile across the hilly Cool, CA course on a mild, clear morning. He got there by closing hard — his HWY 49→Finish split was the 16th-fastest among the women's field, and he gained ground on the men's side through each checkpoint, moving from 29th to 23rd among men as the race wore on.

Matt Perry of Davis ran a nearly identical race, clocking 2:08:06 at 12:49/mi. Perry actually had the stronger Fire Station→HWY 49 leg — also the 16th-fastest women's split on that segment — but couldn't convert that mid-race momentum into the lead. He arrived at the final stretch with the gap already set, finishing a hard-fought 2nd. Jeff Rosenthal of Lafayette was a clear 3rd in 2:11:38, posting the 23rd-fastest women's split on the closing HWY 49→Finish stretch and finishing 3:32 behind Perry.

Behind the podium, the group spread out considerably. Mike Smedshammer and David Stoutenburg, both of Modesto, came in 4th and 5th in 2:26:33 and 2:37:31 respectively — a gap of nearly 15 minutes to the podium that reflects how decisively the top three separated themselves. Bruce Tidrick, also of Modesto, was 6th in 2:42:10. The two 69-year-olds, Bill Finkbeiner of Auburn and David Bry of Sacramento, closed out the field in 2:56:44 and 3:06:26 — a combined age of 138 still getting it done over 10 miles of Sierra Nevada foothills.