BMW Berlin Marathon 2025: Gwen Jacobson Dominates the F65-69 Field

• Jacobson wins by 13:47, finishing in 3:29:47 (8:00/mi) — a commanding margin over runner-up Sally Reiley's 3:43:34.
• Lori Brown posted the 18th-fastest women's split on the 40K-to-finish segment in the entire women's field — the most explosive late charge in the F65-69 group, vaulting her from well outside the top 10,000 women at halfway to 5th in the age group.
• Martine Dandoy ran the most consistent race of anyone in the top five, entering the women's field at 690th place early and never straying far from that position all the way to the finish.
• 179 women completed the F65-69 race on a warm, humid Berlin morning — 71°F with 85% humidity and a light breeze.

Gwen Jacobson was simply in a different race. Running 8:00 per mile through the streets of Berlin, she had already climbed from 2,413th among all women at the first checkpoint to 1,009th by 10K, and she kept rising steadily through 35K before locking in her position. The 13-minute-47-second winning margin over Reiley tells the whole story: this was a wire-to-wire statement.

Sally Reiley and Olga Alaeva fought a compelling battle for the podium. Reiley (3:43:34, 8:32/mi) ran a progressive race, climbing from 8,510th among women at the first checkpoint all the way to 1,518th by 35K. Alaeva (3:48:12, 8:42/mi) was actually ahead of Reiley through the middle portions of the race — she was 2,189th among women at 20K to Reiley's 2,581st — but faded slightly in the closing miles, ultimately finishing 4:38 back of Reiley in 3rd.

The race's most dramatic story belonged to Lori Brown. She was 15,114th among women at the first checkpoint and still 10,580th at halfway — seemingly out of contention entirely. Then she turned on the afterburners. Her 40K-to-finish split was the 18th-fastest among all women in the race, and she swept through to 5th in the F65-69 group with a 3:44:46. It's the kind of finish that makes you wonder what she was saving — and for how long.