Women's 18K: Adams strikes on Snow King and never looks back

• Monica Adams, 21, of Mill Valley wins the women's race in 2:07:31 (11:24/mi), taking the lead on Snow King→KT 22 with the fastest women's split on that stretch
• Hannah Rudd (2:09:43) climbs from 4th to 2nd, closing with the fastest women's split from High Camp to the finish
• Early leader Carolyn Smith holds the front through three checkpoints before fading to 3rd in 2:14:03
• Just 16 seconds separate 5th-place Amanda Murray (2:21:11) from 6th-place Olivia Haesloop (2:21:27)

With 245 women finishing on a clear 67°F day at Palisades, this race was decided high on the mountain — where the course tops out near 8,820 feet and the thin air punishes anyone who overextends early. Carolyn Smith, 22, of Mountain View seized the front from the gun and held it through three checkpoints. But Monica Adams was lurking in 2nd the entire time, and when the course hit Snow King→KT 22, she uncorked the fastest women's split on the segment to take a lead she never surrendered. Her 2:07:31 at 11:24/mi was the class of the field.

Behind her, Hannah Rudd of Bozeman ran the patient race of the day. Sitting 4th through the early checkpoints, the 28-year-old picked off one spot at a time — 4th to 3rd to 2nd — and sealed the runner-up finish with the fastest women's split from High Camp to the line, stopping the clock at 2:09:43, 2:12 back. Smith paid for her early aggression but still salvaged the podium in 2:14:03, backed by the 2nd-fastest women's split on the same Snow King section where Adams broke clear. Eighteen-year-old Novella Light of Steamboat Springs worked from 6th up to 4th (2:18:34), riding the 4th-fastest women's split on KT 22→Siberia.

Amanda Murray, 6th among the women here in 2025, went one better this year — 5th in 2:21:11, throwing down the 3rd-fastest women's split on Snow King→KT 22 before holding off Olivia Haesloop (2:21:27) by just 16 seconds. Sidney Mcintosh, the 2025 runner-up, finished 13th this time in 2:33:38. Further back, the battles stayed tight: Paula Mcnally (2:35:52) edged Georgia Scherer (2:35:56) by four seconds for 16th, proof that on this mountain, no place comes cheap.