2X Women: Kaylee and Star Dominate, Bombshells Edge Cactus Queens for Second

• It's Literally Kaylee and Star (Starshine Blackford, 49, & Kaylee Frederick, 20) won in 19:12:53 — a full 5 hours, 30 minutes ahead of the rest of the 2X Women field.
• The Blonde Bombshells (Stacy Butler & Pamela Chapman-Markle) claimed 2nd in 24:43:30, holding off the Cactus Queens (Judy Jin & Alyssia Stevenson) who finished in 24:50:08 — a gap of just 6 minutes, 38 seconds after nearly 25 hours of racing.
• Cactus Queens posted the 2nd-fastest women's split on the first half of the course, but faded dramatically in the middle miles — dropping to 15th in the women's field at the 50-mile mark — before rallying late.
• Blonde Bombshells ran the 4th- and 5th-fastest women's splits on the 68M→Finish stretch, timing their strongest running for the final push up toward Palomar Mountain.

It's Literally Kaylee and Star turned this into a wire-to-wire statement. Blackford (49, Columbus, OH) and Frederick (20, Johnstown, PA) held 4th and 5th in the women's field through the early going, then surged into 2nd by the 50-mile mark and never looked back, finishing in 19:12:53 at a 14:14/mi average across 81 miles — from 234 feet below sea level all the way to 5,500 feet atop Palomar Mountain. Their fastest women's split on the 50M→68M stretch was the move that sealed it, and the 5½-hour margin over second place tells the rest of the story.

Behind them, the real drama unfolded between the Blonde Bombshells and the Cactus Queens. Judy Jin (46, New York, NY) and Alyssia Stevenson (44, Manti, UT) came out flying — Jin posted the 2nd-fastest women's split on the first half — but the team cratered through the middle miles, tumbling to 15th in the women's field around the 50-mile mark. Butler (39, Seabrook, TX) and Chapman-Markle (69, San Leon, TX) of the Blonde Bombshells were steadier, and their strong 68M→Finish split helped them lock in 2nd place in 24:43:30.

The Cactus Queens did rally — clawing back to 11th in the women's field by the finish — but 24:50:08 left them 6:38 short of the Bombshells after nearly 25 hours on course. Six finishers, three teams, and a race that stretched from below sea level to a mountain summit: the 2X Women delivered exactly the kind of attrition story Badwater Salton Sea is built for.