Masters Women: Birth-Davis Holds Off Sullivan in a Sub-1:25 Showdown

• Carrie Birth-Davis won the Masters Women race in 1:24:04 (6:25/mi), posting the 12th-fastest women's split on the 15K-to-finish stretch to seal the victory.
• Jeannie Sullivan was right on her heels, finishing 2nd in 1:24:32 — just 28 seconds back — with the 15th-fastest women's split on the second half fueling her charge.
• Dimple Feygin turned in the field's most dramatic run: starting 93rd among women, she climbed all the way to 42nd by the finish, including the 20th-fastest women's split on the 15K-to-finish segment.
• Angelica Guerrero, 60, finished 13th in the Masters Women field in 1:38:30 — one of the standout age-story performances in a 613-woman field.

In warm, breezy Chicago conditions — 74°F with a 12 mph wind — Carrie Birth-Davis from Fayetteville, NC, ran a composed and calculated race to claim the Masters Women title. Her gender place drifted slightly in the middle miles (14th to 16th, then back to 15th), but she reasserted herself over the final stretch, closing with the 12th-fastest women's split from 15K to the finish and crossing in 1:24:04 at a 6:25/mi clip. It was a performance built on patience and a strong finish.

Jeannie Sullivan of Clarendon Hills, IL, made it a genuine contest. She moved up steadily through the women's field — from 19th at the first checkpoint to 16th by the midpoint — and her second half was sharp enough (15th-fastest women's split) to close the gap, but Birth-Davis had just enough in reserve. The 28-second margin between them tells the story: competitive from start to finish, but never truly in doubt once the final miles played out.

Behind the top two, the podium race was less dramatic. Hidi Gaff of Fort Wayne finished 3rd in 1:27:47 (6:42/mi), while Sara Winslow rounded out the top four in 1:29:46, her strongest women's split coming early — from 5K to 8K — before she faded slightly through the second half.

The most compelling subplot belonged to Dimple Feygin, 45, of Deerfield, IL. Starting well back in the women's field, she ran progressively faster as the race went on, picking off competitor after competitor to finish 5th among Masters Women in 1:32:41. Heidy Lozano, 55, of Boulder, CO, also deserves mention: she finished 8th in 1:35:32 — a strong result in a deep, fast field.