Women's Race: Cape Fear Bandits Lead Wire to Wire, While Kaylee and Star Storm the Back Half

• Cape Fear Bandits (Erika Small) wins in 17:34:30 — nearly 1 hour 38 minutes clear of the field, holding 1st among women from the first checkpoint to the last.
• It's Literally Kaylee and Star (Blackford & Frederick) run the fastest women's split on the 50M→68M segment and climb from 4th/5th to a locked-in 2nd-place finish at 19:12:53.
• Blonde Bombshells (Butler & Chapman-Markle) and Wild Winter Women (Roschlan, Krauel & Gomez) finish 6th and 7th–9th respectively, separated by just over four minutes across a crowded mid-pack.
• Your Pace or Mine? (Cazenave, Coppersmith & McKinnon) close out the women's field in 26:52:00, completing the full 81-mile, 9,000-foot journey from Salton City to Palomar Mountain as a three-person team.

Erika Small, running as the sole member of Cape Fear Bandits, never relinquished a step of her lead. She held 1st among women at every single checkpoint and posted the fastest women's split on the 14M→35M segment — the long middle stretch through the desert — to put the race away early. Her finishing time of 17:34:30 at a 13:01/mi average across 81 brutal miles stands as the clear headline of the day.

The most electric move of the women's race belonged to It's Literally Kaylee and Star. Starshine Blackford (49, Columbus, OH) and Kaylee Frederick (20, Johnstown, PA) were running 4th and 5th among women through the first half, but the 50M→68M segment changed everything. Blackford ran the fastest women's split on that stretch; Frederick ran the second-fastest. Together they surged past the competition and locked up 2nd place at 19:12:53, a position they held through the finish. It was a textbook back-half charge across one of the race's most demanding passages.

Behind them, the middle of the women's field produced a fascinating late shuffle. Chasing Who's Elizabeth Perez (60, Victoria, TX) had one of the more turbulent journeys of the day, bouncing between 4th and 17th among women at various checkpoints before posting the 4th-fastest women's split on the 50M→68M segment and ultimately landing 5th at 24:36:12. Dead Fish City Run Club's Emily Lyons (34, Castle Hayne, NC) was steadier, climbing methodically from 8th to 4th at 24:18:00 with the 5th-fastest women's split on the second half.

The 6th-through-12th spots were decided in a span of just nine minutes. Blonde Bombshells — Stacy Butler (39) and Pamela Chapman-Markle (69) — finished 6th in 24:43:30. Wild Winter Women's trio of Jessica Roschlan, Heather Krauel, and Janelle Gomez crossed together four minutes later at 24:47:37 for 8th–10th. Cactus Queens (Judy Jin & Alyssia Stevenson) followed at 24:50:08. Three Blind Mice (Tess Gessler) came 13th in 25:37:20, Princess Leah & Darth Dean (Leah Vincent) 14th in 25:59:35, and Your Pace or Mine? — a three-person squad of Bethany Cazenave, Dalisia Coppersmith, and Sandee McKinnon — brought all 17 women home at 26:52:00.