B.A.A. 10K F70-74: Ragon Runs Away With It

• Susan Ragon won the F70-74 age group in 1:08:36 (11:02/mi), finishing more than 8 minutes 51 seconds clear of runner-up Robin McKenzie.
• Robin McKenzie (2nd, 1:17:27) and Rosalie Hobbs (3rd, 1:19:38) were separated by just 2 minutes 11 seconds at the line.
• Cathy Bradley, 74, finished 4th in 1:26:19 — the oldest competitor on the podium fringe, running 13:53/mi on a warm Boston morning.
• Six women completed the F70-74 race, from 1:08:36 to 1:50:59 — a spread of over 42 minutes across the group.

Susan Ragon made the F70-74 race her own from the jump. The 71-year-old from Cambridge steadily moved through the women's field as the race progressed, climbing from 1,624th among women at the 5K mark to 1,443rd by 8K — a sign she was running with control and consistency while others around her faded. Her 11:02/mi average over 6.2 miles in 77°F heat and a 12 mph wind was the defining performance of the age group, and the margin she built — nearly nine minutes over second place — left no doubt.

Behind her, Robin McKenzie of Brookline ran a steady 1:17:27 to claim second, though her position among the broader women's field drifted slightly in the back half, sliding from 1,838th at 8K to 2,011th at the finish. Rosalie Hobbs of Swampscott crossed third in 1:19:38, making the gap between second and third the closest battle of the day in this group — just over two minutes after more than an hour of racing.

Cathy Bradley of Orange, CT brought it home in 4th at 1:26:19, actually gaining ground among the women's field in the second half of the race, moving from 2,521st at the 5K to 2,402nd at the finish — a composed, well-paced effort at 13:53/mi. Dianne Cohn (5th, 1:41:33) and Margaret Carlson (6th, 1:50:59) rounded out the six-woman field, with Carlson's 17:52/mi pace still representing a finish line crossed on a challenging summer day in Boston.