Masters Women at Boston 2023: Sara Hall Owns the Hills

• Sara Hall wins in 2:25:48 (5:34/mi), posting the fastest women's split on the 20K-to-half stretch and climbing as high as 17th among all women.
• Edna Kiplagat finishes 2nd in 2:34:40 — a 9-minute gap back, her 5:54/mi pace reflecting a second half that saw her slide from 15th among women at 10K all the way to 31st by the finish.
• Hanna Lindholm rounds out the podium in 2:39:16, holding steady through the Newton Hills to claim 3rd.
• A tight cluster at 4th–8th: Carmen Hussar (2:45:01), Lynda Gingras (2:45:22), Julie Lajeunesse (2:45:41), Laurie Knowles (2:46:00), and Gina Rouse (2:46:22) — five finishers separated by just 1:21.

The 128th Boston Marathon sent its Masters Women field of 6,539 from Hopkinton to Copley Square in 49°F drizzle with a 10 mph wind — conditions that reward patience and punish early ambition. Nobody ran this race smarter up front than Sara Hall. She sat 20th among women at the opening checkpoint, crept to 17th by the halfway mark, and held that position through the Newton Hills and Heartbreak Hill to cross in 2:25:48. Her fastest women's split on the 20K-to-half segment was the decisive move — she was building speed precisely when the course gets honest.

The contrast with Edna Kiplagat tells the day's other big story. Kiplagat was running 15th among women at 10K, a full five spots ahead of where Hall sat, and she posted the 18th-fastest women's split on that early 10K-to-15K stretch. But the back half unraveled: she fell to 21st by 15K, to 29th by the midpoint, and finished 31st among women in 2:34:40. Hall caught her — and the gap between them grew to more than nine minutes. It was a classic Boston fade meeting a classic Boston surge.

Hanna Lindholm ran a measured 6:04/mi to take 3rd in 2:39:16, while the battle for 4th through 8th played out over a remarkably tight 1:21 window. Carmen Hussar (4th, 2:45:01) edged Lynda Gingras (5th, 2:45:22) by 21 seconds, with Julie Lajeunesse (6th, 2:45:41), Laurie Knowles (7th, 2:46:00), and Gina Rouse (8th, 2:46:22) all within striking distance. Further back, Kerin Hempel (9th, 2:49:03), Natasha Bliss (10th, 2:49:42), and Melissa Perlman (11th, 2:49:47) formed another tight cluster, separated by just 44 seconds across three spots.