Chicago 13.1 Half Marathon — F65-69: Catledge Runs Away With It

• Marcella Catledge won the F65-69 group in 1:53:59 (8:42/mi) — more than 20 minutes clear of runner-up Susan Toy (2:14:01).
• Toy's strongest segment came early: she posted the 425th-fastest women's split on the 5K→8K stretch before fading sharply over the final miles.
• Barbara Jones and Sarah Livingstone waged the closest battle of the day, finishing just 2:14 apart (2:37:05 vs. 2:39:19) for 4th and 5th.
• Nine of the 16 finishers crossed between 2:54 and 3:21 — a deep, competitive back half of the field.

Marcella Catledge of Palos Park made this one look decisive from the start. Running an 8:42/mi average on a warm June morning — 72°F with a 10 mph wind — she held her position steadily through the middle miles, briefly climbing as high as 296th among all women by the 15K mark. Her 250th-fastest women's split on the 8K→10K stretch showed she was still pushing through the heart of the race, not coasting. The gap she built over the field was real and it was large: 20 minutes and 2 seconds separated her from second place.

Susan Toy of Lyman, ME made an early move that briefly looked like a challenge. She surged on the 5K→8K leg, posting the 425th-fastest women's split on that segment and climbing from 578th to 503rd among women. But the second half told a different story — she slipped to 1,144th among women by the finish, suggesting the early effort came at a cost. She still held on comfortably for 2nd in the F65-69 group at 2:14:01.

Cheryl Boyd rounded out the podium in 2:25:07, and the real drama of the day unfolded just behind her. Barbara Jones ran a strong closing stretch — her 1,407th-fastest women's split on the 15K→Finish leg helped her climb from 2,810th among women at the 5K all the way to 2,184th by the end, a sustained push through the back half. Sarah Livingstone was right on her heels at 2:39:19, just 2:14 back at the line, with Robin Waner-Iser completing a tight 4th–5th–6th cluster.

Further back, nine runners finished between 2:54 and 3:21, with Emma Collier (2:58:18) and Claudia Martinez (2:58:21) separated by just three seconds for 9th and 10th. Teresa Fagan closed out the 16-woman field in 3:20:42. All 16 finishers earned their miles on a warm Chicago morning.