And the Two Cities Marathon winner is ... Edgar Bolaños

A new course, flatter surface was the formula the Two Cities Marathon concocted to generate faster times, especially for those wanting to post a Boston Marathon-qualifying time.

While there were personal bests posted throughout Sunday in the full and half marathons, the winning time in the men’s race was the second-slowest in the 13th edition of the marathon that snaked through surface streets and running trails in northeast Fresno and Clovis on Sunday.

That didn’t mean there was a lack of drama in the men’s race. Training teammates and friends Edgar Bolaños and Óscar Pérez.

The two members of the Bandoleros running team ran stride-for-stride the entire race, with no more than a 2-second difference throughout. They even covered the final mile in 5 minutes, 39.3 seconds.

In the end, the 25-year-old Bolaños beat Pérez, a landscaper, by less than 2 seconds. His official time was 2 hours, 32 minutes, 24.7 seconds. Pérez was credited with a time of 2:32:25.9.

“We wanted to be patient at the beginning and we just mostly went at a 5:45 (per-mile) pace,” said Bolaños. “Once we got to the half, we felt good so we just kept going.”

Pérez, 34, said the course was easy without too many uphills. He said the race prepares him and Bolaños for next month’s California International Marathon in Sacramento.

Both runners trained in Kings Canyon National Park for Sunday’s race.

This was only the second marathon for Bolaños, and the first for Pérez. In his marathon debut in 2019, Bolaños ran a 2:53 time.

Bolaños is a substitute teacher who recently began his own landscaping business.

Bolaños and Pérez were among the 358 runners who completed the marathon. A.J. Reid of Exeter was third in 2:41:54.

San Francisco’s Abby Tempelsman, 30, won the women’s race in 3:04:19.7, ahead of Kingsburg’s Shannon Parkinson (3:10:01.6). Third was Tiffany Nakamura of Hawaii in 3:16:27.3.

There was also a half marathon, a 10K and a 5k, which helped account for a record 5,000 participants from 451 cities and 25 states.

There were at least two marriage proposals at the end of the half-marathon race. Both women said yes.

David Salas of Santa Bárbara won the half in 1:10:02.9, just ahead of Fresno’s Seth Frazer (1:10:11.7).

There were 1,243 finishers in the half marathon.

The 10K, which had 609 finishers, was led by men’s winner Cristián Avendano, a 16-year-old who timed 32:45.9; and by women’s winner Alessandra Telles, 15, who clocked 45:56.

The 5K race was won by 15-year-old Blake Bay of Clovis (19:17.1), while 15-year-old Aly Chávez of Fresno won the women’s race in 22:06.3.

All the races started and ended at Clovis Community College.