F35-39 at CIM 2022: Hodnette Runs Away With It

• Polina Hodnette, 2:36:53 (5:59/mi): Won the F35-39 age group by 3:27, the only finisher in the group to break 2:40.
• Late surge: Hodnette climbed from 74th among women at the first checkpoint all the way to 43rd by the finish — and posted the 13th-fastest women's split on the 40K-to-finish stretch.
• Sub-2:42 cluster: Places 2 through 5 were separated by just 2:30, with Katie Layman (2:40:20), Chelsea Barr (2:41:16), Karen Bertasso-Hughes (2:41:26), and Liz Camy (2:42:50) all locked in a tight mid-race battle.
• Deep field: 542 women finished in F35-39, with the top 20 all clocking under 2:59 on a cool, rainy Sacramento morning.

Polina Hodnette, 35, out of Chicago, was never truly challenged for the age-group win. Running a 5:59/mi average, she crossed in 2:36:53 — the only woman in the group to break 2:40 — and spent the back half of the race steadily picking off competitors in the broader women's field, moving from 74th among women near the opening checkpoint to 43rd at the line. Her 40K-to-finish leg was the 13th-fastest women's closing split on the day, a strong signal that she was running the race in reverse: saving something for when it mattered most.

Behind her, the battle for the podium was genuinely absorbing. Katie Layman, the local favorite from Folsom, CA, held 2nd in 2:40:20, running a 6:07/mi pace and flashing the 55th-fastest women's split on the 30K-to-35K segment. Chelsea Barr (Houston, TX) and Karen Bertasso-Hughes (Selkirk, NY) finished 3rd and 4th in 2:41:16 and 2:41:26 respectively — a mere ten seconds apart — with Barr's strong closing split (45th-fastest among women on 40K-to-finish) nearly not enough to hold off Bertasso-Hughes, who had her own best segment earlier at 25K-to-30K. Liz Camy rounded out the top five in 2:42:50, also making her move through the 25K-to-30K stretch.

The wet, mild conditions — 56°F and a light rain — kept the field moving well throughout. Places 6 through 10 formed their own competitive cluster, with Abbie Tuomi (2:44:51), Catherine Lisle (2:45:09), Lindsay Tollefson (2:45:30), Danielle Turk-Bly (2:47:03), and Sacramento's own Lauren Mulkey Williams (2:47:47) all finishing within three minutes of each other. In a 542-woman age group, the quality ran deep all the way down.