F30-34 at CIM 2024: Schmitt Runs Away from a Deep Field

• Rebecca Schmitt wins in 2:35:07 (5:55/mi), finishing more than 11 minutes clear of the rest of the F30-34 field.
• Schmitt climbed 27 spots among women from the 5K checkpoint to the finish, including the 3rd-fastest women's split on the 35K–40K segment — the stretch where she put the race away.
• Curcuru, Wang, and Birchett finished 2nd through 4th within a 45-second window (2:46:14 to 2:46:59), making for a fierce battle for the podium's lower steps.
• Saige Schuller posted the 31st-fastest women's split on the 40K–Finish segment, surging from 113th among women at the 5K mark all the way to 65th — the biggest mover in the top 20.

Rebecca Schmitt ran a wire-to-wire statement at the California International Marathon. She was already sitting 41st among women through the early miles, but the Edgewood, NM runner kept climbing steadily through every checkpoint — 30th at 10K, 27th at 15K, 23rd at 20K — before a decisive late push brought her to 14th among women at the finish. Her 5:55/mi average speaks for itself in a 617-runner F30-34 field, and her 3rd-fastest women's split between 35K and 40K was the moment she made the race unmistakably hers.

The battle for 2nd through 4th was one of the day's tightest stories. Margaux Curcuru (Torrance, CA) held off Alex Wang (Oakland, CA) by 33 seconds, with Shanna Birchett (St. George, UT) a further 12 seconds back in 4th — all three finishing at 6:20–6:22/mi. Wang's 44th-fastest women's split on the 15K–20K segment and Curcuru's 52nd-fastest on 30K–35K show each found her own moment to push, but the gaps at the line were narrow enough that any one of them could have claimed silver on a slightly different day.

The race's most dramatic arc belonged to Saige Schuller. Starting well back — 113th among women through 5K — she ran progressively stronger as the miles mounted, climbing to 65th among women by the finish on the strength of the 31st-fastest women's closing split from 40K to the line. She finished 5th in the F30-34 group in 2:48:59, a result that looked nothing like where she stood at the opening checkpoint.