California International Marathon F70-74: Kirkwood Takes the Title in a Six-Woman Showdown

• Karla Kirkwood (San Francisco, CA, age 71) won the F70-74 group in 4:56:52 (11:19/mi), the only finisher to break five hours.
• Sangsook Lee (age 71) was 2nd in 5:03:20 — 6:28 back — while Bella Almaraz (age 72) and Janet Price (age 73) staged a fierce battle for third, separated by just 29 seconds at the line (5:18:52 vs. 5:19:21).
• Lea Crandall (age 70, Kailua, HI) finished 5th in 5:48:37, and Carole Hoglund (age 74, Toronto, ON) completed all 26.2 miles in 6:15:01 — the group's most experienced finisher by age.
• All six women completed the race on a cool, overcast Sacramento morning — 46°F with a light 3 mph breeze — conditions that held steady across the field.

Karla Kirkwood controlled the F70-74 race from a position of steady authority. She entered the late miles in the women's field around 2,575th place and climbed to 2,462nd by the finish — a clear sign of sustained effort while others faded around her. Her 11:19/mi average held firm enough to keep the field behind her, and her sub-five-hour time stands as the clear headline of the morning.

Sangsook Lee, also 71, ran a composed race at 11:34/mi to claim second in 5:03:20, never quite closing the gap to Kirkwood but never letting it blow open either. Behind her, the race's most dramatic subplot played out between Bella Almaraz and Janet Price. Almaraz, a Sacramento local running in her home city, held the edge through the middle miles but Price was applying pressure. Almaraz's 35K–40K split was the 2,483rd-fastest among women; Price's strongest segment came later, posting the 2,400th-fastest women's split from 40K to the finish — meaning Price was actually running the faster closing leg. She trimmed the gap but couldn't quite complete the catch, finishing 29 seconds behind Almaraz at 5:19:21.

Lea Crandall made the trip from Kailua, Hawaii to finish 5th in 5:48:37 (13:18/mi), while Carole Hoglund of Toronto rounded out the six-woman group in 6:15:01 at 14:18/mi — crossing the line in her own right on a day that asked plenty of every runner who toed the line.