Masters Women NYC Half: Bruce Dominates in 1:13:23

• Stephanie Bruce, 42, wins the Masters Women race in 1:13:23 (5:36/mi), finishing 18th among all women — a commanding margin of more than eight minutes over the rest of the podium.
• Darlina Goldak climbs from 116th to 66th among women, the sharpest mover in the top five, fueled by the 50th-fastest women's split on the 15K–20K segment.
• Fiona Bayly, 58, finishes 8th in 1:24:31 — one of the standout performances in a Masters Women field of 4,978 finishers.
• Three runners — Anne Marie Haehner (4th, 1:22:39) and Marah Borgman (5th, 1:22:44) — finish within five seconds of each other, both clocking the 67th- and 68th-fastest women's splits on the 10K–15K segment.

On a crisp 40°F morning in New York, Stephanie Bruce made the Masters Women race her own from the outset. The 42-year-old from Flagstaff ran 5:36 per mile across 13.1 miles, crossing in 1:13:23 — a gap of over eight minutes to second place that left little suspense at the front. She held 20th place among all women through the first 20K, then used the 16th-fastest women's split on the final push to 20K–Finish to move up to 18th, sealing one of the sharpest closing kicks in the Masters field.

Behind Bruce, the race for the podium was genuinely contested. Maddie Durkin, 44, locked in 2nd with a 1:21:32 (6:13/mi), backed by the 54th-fastest women's split on the 5K–10K segment. Darlina Goldak, 41, of Woodside, NY, was the story of the chase pack — she entered the 10K in 116th place among women and worked her way methodically forward, reaching 66th by the finish in 1:22:23 (6:17/mi). That relentless progression earned her 3rd.

Fourth and fifth played out in a tight duel. Anne Marie Haehner, 44, of Miami, and Marah Borgman, 41, of Portland, ME, ran nearly the same race — Haehner finishing in 1:22:39 and Borgman in 1:22:44, just five seconds apart after 13.1 miles. Both posted near-identical splits on the 10K–15K segment, with Haehner's the 68th-fastest and Borgman's the 67th-fastest among women on that stretch. Fiona Bayly, 58, of New York, added a notable footnote by claiming 8th in 1:24:31 — a strong result in a Masters Women field that stretched nearly 5,000 deep.