Bigfoot 200 F40-49: Schiller Claims the Cascade Crown

• Jessica Schiller wins in 68:33:10 — averaging 20:33/mi across 200.1 miles — with the 2nd-fastest women's split on the Owens→Finish stretch to close it out.
• Ashley Paulson led the women's field from the gun through six checkpoints, posting the fastest women's split on Blue Lake→Windy Ridge, before fading to 4th in 71:06:41 — a 2:33:31 gap to Schiller at the line.
• Carrie Clendaniel ran the fastest women's split on Chain of Lakes→Klickitat, surging from 12th among women at one point to finish 2nd in 68:47:53 — just 14:43 behind Schiller.
• Heather Whitlock, 49, rounded out the podium in 69:49:53, posting the 4th-fastest women's split on Elk→Road 9327 and moving as high as 3rd among women before settling there at the finish.

The headline story of this race was Ashley Paulson's extraordinary lead — and the equally extraordinary effort it took to reel her in. Paulson, 45, out of St. George, UT, held the top women's position at every single checkpoint through six of eight tracked splits, running the fastest women's split on Blue Lake→Windy Ridge. But the Cascades have a way of extracting their toll over 200 miles, and Paulson slipped to 6th and then 7th among women in the final stretch, finishing in 71:06:41. The woman who passed her to take the win was no stranger to this finish line: Jessica Schiller, 43, won the 2024 Bigfoot 200 women's race in 56:34:52, and here she returned to claim another title — this time in 68:33:10, sealing it with the 2nd-fastest women's split on the Owens→Finish segment.

Schiller's win didn't come from a wire-to-wire charge. Her gender position tracked 6th, 4th, 4th, 6th, 7th, 6th, 5th, and finally 3rd among all women before the division standings put her first in F40-49 — a patient, grinding climb through the volcanic terrain and lava fields of the Cascades. Carrie Clendaniel, 40, of Port Townsend, WA, told her own dramatic story: she fell as far back as 12th among women before surging back with the fastest women's split on Chain of Lakes→Klickitat, ultimately finishing 2nd in the group in 68:47:53. Heather Whitlock, 49, of Kingston, WA — the oldest finisher on the podium — completed the top three in 69:49:53, a composed effort that included the 4th-fastest women's split on Elk→Road 9327.

Behind the podium, Marci Jacobs (5th, 75:54:23) and Colleen Mentz (6th, 77:39:50) led a deep mid-field, while Ayako Murai of Tokyo (7th, 80:06:25) and Renata Skersyte of Los Alamos (8th, 81:20:36) showed the truly international reach of this field. All 24 finishers covered 200.1 miles and more than 44,000 feet of gain through the Cascades — the back of the pack no less committed for the extra hours on course.