Christine Ramsey Wins a Deep F35-39 Field at CIM 2019

• Ramsey takes it in 2:41:11 (6:09/mi), edging Allison Krausen by 28 seconds in a race that saw the top two separated by less than half a minute across 26.2 miles.
• Jennifer Berry's late charge: running the 8th-fastest women's split on the 35K–40K segment, Berry surged from 28th among women at that point all the way to 3rd in F35-39 at the finish in 2:43:10.
• Lori Mann's relentless climb: entering the timing net 140th among women at the 5K mark, Mann ground her way to 5th in F35-39 by the finish (2:44:07), posting the 19th-fastest women's split on the 35K–40K stretch along the way.
• 570 finishers made F35-39 one of the largest age groups on the course, with the top 20 all finishing under 2:52.

The story at the front of the F35-39 field was Christine Ramsey's steady, controlled move through the women's race. The 37-year-old from Philadelphia sat 29th among women at the first checkpoint and methodically worked her way forward, reaching 12th among women by the 35K mark and holding that position home. Her 6:09/mi average over 56°F, rain-soaked Sacramento streets was the best in the age group, and her 13th-fastest women's split on the 5K–10K segment signaled early that she had the gears to go with the leaders.

Right behind her, Allison Krausen of Edwards, Colorado told a different kind of story. The 39-year-old was actually moving backward through the women's field in the first half — sitting 42nd among women at 10K — before flipping the script. She ran the 12th-fastest women's split from the half marathon to 25K and never stopped climbing, ultimately finishing 2nd in F35-39 in 2:41:39. That 28-second gap to Ramsey was hard-earned and hard to close.

The most dramatic arc of the day belonged to Jennifer Berry. The Denver runner was buried — 108th among women at both 10K and 15K — before an extraordinary back-half surge. Her 8th-fastest women's split on the 35K–40K segment vaulted her into 3rd in F35-39 at 2:43:10, with Alexandra Blake (2:43:28) and Lori Mann (2:44:07) rounding out the top five. Mann's own journey from 140th among women at 5K to 5th in the age group was a quiet masterpiece of negative splitting through a wet and blustery December morning.