F60-69: Colleen Casey Surges Home to Claim Auburn Bragging Rights

• Colleen Casey, 63, wins in 2:05:43 (12:34/mi avg), posting the 9th-fastest women's split on the Last Gasp→Finish segment to seal the result.
• Lynda Huppert holds 2nd in 2:11:57 — a 6:14 gap back — while Holly Edes rounds out the podium in 2:16:41.
• Beth Laskey delivers the group's most dramatic move, climbing from 64th to 39th among women across the race on her way to 5th in 2:34:38.
• Rebecca Suhr and Kathy Fairbanks finish 10th and 11th separated by a single second — 2:53:10 to 2:53:11 — with Suhr edging ahead by the slimmest of margins.

Colleen Casey, running on home turf in Auburn, made the F60-69 race look straightforward — but the numbers tell a more dynamic story. She entered the final stretch ranked 16th among women and closed hard, posting the 9th-fastest women's split on the Last Gasp→Finish segment at a 12:34/mi average across the full 10 miles. That late surge was the decisive move, and she crossed in 2:05:43 to take the age group win by over six minutes.

Lynda Huppert, 66, of Folsom, was steady throughout — holding 19th among women at both the first and second checkpoints before lifting to 16th at the finish — and secured 2nd in 2:11:57 with the 14th-fastest women's closing split. Holly Edes, 62, had a tougher arc, slipping from 18th to 25th among women mid-race before recovering to 22nd at the line, finishing 3rd in 2:16:41.

The most eye-catching journey through the field belonged to Beth Laskey, 60. Starting deep — 64th among women — she worked her way up to 39th by the finish, crossing in 2:34:38 (15:28/mi) for 5th in the age group. Just behind her, Thelma Matthews (2:35:31), Kathy Root (2:36:26), and Peri Dion (2:37:38) ran 6th through 8th within a tight 2:07 window, making that stretch of the F60-69 field one of the race's more competitive clusters on a warm 73°F April morning in Auburn.