F65-69: Weisman Runs Away With It in the Rain

• Jill Weisman, 66, wins F65-69 in 3:31:45 (8:05/mi), finishing more than three minutes clear of the field.
• Runner-up Lanore Bergenske crossed in 3:34:46 — a 3:01 gap back to first, but a commanding 20:20 cushion over third.
• Carol Sexton took third in 3:55:06, with the top four separated by more than 30 minutes from first to fourth.
• Karen Mahakian was the group's strongest closer, climbing from 1,875th among women at the start to 1,708th by the finish — the most consistent upward move of the back half of the field.

A cool, rainy Sacramento morning set the stage for 37 women in the F65-69 age group, and Jill Weisman of Santa Monica made the most of it. She crossed in 3:31:45 at an 8:05/mi clip — a pace that would test runners of any age over 26.2 miles. Her race wasn't without fluctuation; she drifted back among women through the 25K–30K stretch before steadying and grinding back to 759th among women by 40K. The final miles told the real story: she finished 755th among women at the gun, a strong recovery from a mid-race dip.

Lanore Bergenske of Fortuna ran a different kind of race — she came out with a sharp 5K–10K split that ranked 786th among women, then gradually settled back through the field as the miles accumulated, finishing in 3:34:46. The gap to first was real but not insurmountable; the gap she opened on third certainly was. Carol Sexton of Woodinville came in third at 3:55:06, having made a dramatic early surge — she was 1,676th among women at the first checkpoint but had climbed to 1,276th by 10K before stabilizing the rest of the way.

Further back, Cindy Egger (4:04:26) and Karen Mahakian (4:06:26) were separated by just two minutes for fourth and fifth. Mahakian's race arc was notably steady in the back half, climbing from 1,875th among women at the opening checkpoint all the way to 1,708th at the finish — a quiet, methodical negative-split effort. The next cluster — Michelle Paulin (6th, 4:15:14) through Suzi Jianuzzi (10th, 4:23:28) — packed into an eight-minute window, making for a competitive mid-field in a tough age group on a wet December day.