F55-59 at CIM 2021: Hitchings Runs Away With It

• Jenny Hitchings, 58, wins the F55-59 age group in 2:46:30 — a 6:21/mi average that put her among the fastest women on the course.
• Top-five separated by under 8 minutes: Mary Lynch took 2nd in 3:07:37, with Beverley Anderson-Abbs (3rd, 3:13:51), Ran Liu (4th, 3:15:06), and Julia Wang (5th, 3:15:08) bunched tightly behind.
• Liu and Wang finish 1:22 apart — but just two seconds separate 4th and 5th: Liu's 3:15:06 edges Wang's 3:15:08 by the narrowest of margins.
• 175 women finished in F55-59, making it a deep, competitive age group on a mild Sacramento December morning.

Jenny Hitchings ran a race in a class of her own. Her 2:46:30 — averaging 6:21 per mile across all 26.2 — was more than 21 minutes clear of second place, a margin that speaks for itself. She entered the women's field around 48th place and held that altitude through the halfway mark, drifting only slightly to 53rd among women by the finish line. The 43rd-fastest women's split on the first half tells you she went out controlled and honest — this was a composed, authoritative performance from the Sacramento local.

Mary Lynch ran a quietly excellent race. Starting conservatively, she was 331st among women at the first checkpoint and spent the entire day moving forward, finishing 272nd among women by the end — a steady, relentless climb through the field. Her 3:07:37 at 7:09/mi was a comfortable 2nd in the age group.

Behind Lynch, the race got interesting. Beverley Anderson-Abbs of Sacramento ran 3:13:51 for 3rd, though her trajectory was bumpier — she slipped from 307th among women at the first check to 362nd by the finish, suggesting a tough back half. Ran Liu and Julia Wang, meanwhile, were locked in a two-woman race to the tape. Liu (3:15:06) and Wang (3:15:08) were separated by just two seconds after 26.2 miles — with Liu holding 4th and Wang 5th, both finishing around 390th among women. Two seconds over a marathon is essentially racing each other stride for stride all the way down Capitol Mall.

The rest of the top 20 ranged from Deanna Rossini's 6th-place 3:25:59 to Olga Fernandez's 3:41:21 in 20th, a group of 14 women spread across 16 minutes — competitive, hard-earned finishes every one.