F80+ Marathon: Rigney rules the 80s in Sacramento

• Hansi Rigney, 80, finished in 4:51:06 (11:06/mi) to claim the F80+ title at the California International Marathon.
• Carolyn Slavich, 80, completed the full 26.2 in 7:10:40 (16:26/mi), crossing the line nearly 2 hours and 20 minutes back.
• Rigney's strongest stretch came between 30K and 40K, where she posted the 2,151st-fastest women's split across that segment — a sign of legs that held up deep into the race.

Two 80-year-olds. One marathon. That alone is the headline. On a mild Sacramento morning — 57°F, a light breeze, broken clouds — Hansi Rigney of Carmel and Carolyn Slavich of Sacramento each set out to cover 26.2 miles, a feat that puts them in rare company regardless of the clock.

Rigney ran a controlled, well-paced race, averaging 11:06 per mile across the course. Her checkpoint data tells a story of a runner who navigated the middle miles with purpose — her position among the women's field actually improved in the final stages, climbing from 2,565th at the halfway point to 2,388th by the finish. That kind of late-race advancement, picking off runners in the closing kilometers, reflects real competitive instinct. Her 30K-to-40K split was her standout segment, confirming she still had something to give when others were fading.

Slavich, a Sacramento local racing on home roads, held a steady if measured pace of 16:26 per mile and finished in 7:10:40. Her trajectory through the women's field moved in the other direction — she fell progressively from 2,983rd at 5K to 3,121st at the finish — but finishing a marathon at 80 is its own complete achievement, and she saw it through to the end.

The F80+ group at CIM 2021 was exactly two athletes, and both of them crossed the finish line. That's the whole story, and it's a good one.