Broken Arrow 18K Women: Randrup takes over on KT 22 and never looks back

• Kristina Randrup (26, Seattle) won the women's race in 1:46:47 (9:33/mi), seizing the lead on the KT 22→Siberia climb with the fastest women's split of the day
• Sidney Mcintosh, just 18 and racing on home Truckee turf, ripped the fastest women's Siberia→FINISH split to reclaim 2nd in 1:47:53
• The podium was settled by 1:34 — Lisa Musacchio took 3rd in 1:48:21, 28 seconds behind Mcintosh
• Returners flew: Emma Tapscott (11th, 2:03:43) and Marta Darby (15th, 2:05:26) both ran more than 23 minutes faster than their 2024 finishes here

At roughly 7,100 feet of thin Tahoe air with a 17 mph wind rolling through Palisades, the women's race turned into a four-way chess match at the front. Mcintosh, the 18-year-old local, led at the first checkpoint, but the KT 22→Siberia section decided everything: Randrup laid down the fastest women's split on that stretch to take the lead — and Musacchio, riding the 2nd-fastest split there, slipped past Mcintosh into 2nd. From there Randrup never surrendered the top spot, closing out the win at 9:33/mi across a 221-strong women's field.

Mcintosh wasn't finished. Dropped to 3rd, she unleashed the fastest women's split from Siberia to the finish to catch Musacchio back and lock up 2nd — a gutsy counterpunch from the youngest athlete on the podium. Musacchio's 1:48:21 kept her within 1:34 of the win. Behind them, Lucinda Kolpa (1:49:18) held 4th at every checkpoint, aided by the 3rd-fastest women's split on the KT 22 climb, and Emily Schwerdt was equally metronomic in 5th (1:54:28), never moving off her position all day.

Two of the best stories sat just outside the top ten. Emma Tapscott, 10th among the women here in 2024 in 2:31:34, came back and ran 2:03:43 — nearly 28 minutes faster — for 11th. Marta Darby of Truckee, 9th in 2024 at 2:28:38, cut her time to 2:05:26 for 15th. Different day, same mountain, dramatically faster racing — proof that this year's women's field came ready to climb.