M30-39: Travis Lavin Runs Away With It at Way Too Cool

• Travis Lavin won the M30-39 group in 1:10:31 (7:03/mi), finishing more than 10 minutes and 45 seconds clear of runner-up Kevin Buffalino.
• Anthony Boler edged Shang Tsou for 7th by a single hundredth of a second — 2:01:12.83 to 2:01:12.84 — the closest finish of the day in the group.
• Peter Siggard and Bradley Meyer staged the race's tightest mid-pack battle, separated by just 11 seconds at 1:51:37 and 1:51:48.
• The M30-39 field spanned over 1 hour and 23 minutes from first to last finisher.

Travis Lavin made the M30-39 race look straightforward. The 38-year-old from Reno held the top spot from start to finish, never relinquishing his lead through any checkpoint, and crossed in 1:10:31 at a 7:03/mi clip. On the Fire Station to HWY 49 segment he posted the fastest split in the entire field — a move that underscored just how dominant his afternoon was on a warm 69°F day in Cool.

Kevin Buffalino (39, Fair Oaks) was equally consistent in second, running 3rd on that same Fire Station→HWY 49 stretch and finishing in 1:21:16. John Holcombe (37, Folsom) rounded out the podium in 1:31:44, mirroring Buffalino's steady positioning — 5th on the key segment, 3rd at the line.

The real drama unfolded further back. Siggard and Meyer ran shoulder-to-shoulder through the second half, with Siggard posting the 9th-fastest split among the group on that stretch, only for Meyer to close the gap to 11 seconds at the finish. Then came the photo that wasn't quite a photo: Boler and Tsou crossed in what the clock read as identical times — 2:01:12 — but the chip settled it, Boler 7th, Tsou 8th, separated by 0.01 seconds.

Patrick Sutter (37, Roseville) and Pedro Garcia Carrillo (32, Rancho Cordova) brought the group home, finishing 12th and 11th respectively in the 2:30s, completing a M30-39 field that covered every corner of Northern California.