A half an hour or so after Stanley Biwott of Kenya won the New York City Marathon, he was followed by a grinning man nearly old enough to be his grandfather: David Walters, the first sexagenarian to cross the finish line Sunday.

Finishing in 2 hours 47 minutes 27 seconds — ahead of all but about 200 of more than 50,000 runners — the 60-year-old Walters shuffled straight back to his hotel in Times Square, grabbed a protein shake and hopped on a flight home to Chicago. It was his second age-group victory in a marathon in three weeks.

Walters is a masters runner, one of a group of highly competitive veteran runners over age 40 who still manage to beat most runners under age 40 and yet who know their best times are often behind them. (Walters qualified for the 1988 Olympic marathon trials at age 33 in 2:19:56.) He has been racing at a national level for nearly five decades.

“As you get older, if you decide you want to continue to run and to compete, you have to narrow your focus and decide what’s important,” he said.