F10-19 Ascent: Pema Franchi Antelme Dominates at 12 Years Old

• Pema Franchi Antelme, age 12, won the F10-19 field in 30:37 (14:05/mi), finishing 5th among all women — and posting the 7th-fastest women's split on the Snow King→Finish segment.
• Abby Stone was 2nd in 35:09, more than four and a half minutes back, running a 16:10/mi average.
• Niki Johnson (3rd, 44:05) edged Britta Johnson (4th, 44:05) by just 0.06 seconds — the two 17-year-olds from Carnelian Bay separated by a sliver at the line.
• Natalie Hamby, age 12, rounded out the five-finisher field in 47:42.

Five athletes toed the line for the F10-19 Ascent at Broken Arrow Skyrace, but there was never much doubt about who would claim the top spot. Pema Franchi Antelme, just 12 years old and racing out of Cuenca, Ecuador, crossed in 30:37 — a 14:05/mi average up a course that climbs through thin air between roughly 6,300 and 8,000 feet. That pace was good enough for 5th among all women in the field, and her Snow King→Finish split ranked 7th-fastest among every woman who raced. At 12, that's a remarkable showing by any measure.

Abby Stone, 19, was a clear and comfortable second in 35:09 — her 16:10/mi average reflecting the genuine difficulty of the course and a gap of more than four and a half minutes to Franchi Antelme. Then came the afternoon's most gripping moment: Niki Johnson and Britta Johnson, both 17 and both from Carnelian Bay, California, arrived at the finish in what clocks read as 44:05 each. But the timing system doesn't lie — Niki crossed in 44:05.23, Britta in 44:05.29, a margin of just six hundredths of a second separating 3rd from 4th. Interestingly, Britta actually posted the 77th-fastest women's split on Snow King→Finish to Niki's 78th — meaning Britta ran that closing segment faster, but it wasn't quite enough to overcome what had built up before it.

Natalie Hamby, also 12, finished 5th in 47:42, tackling the same demanding altitude and 17 mph winds that tested the entire field. A five-finisher race can still tell a full story — and this one delivered a dominant young winner, a photo-finish battle, and two 12-year-olds who showed up and got it done.