Chicago 13.1 Women's F20-24: Gaughan Dominates in the Heat

• Jackie Gaughan won the F20-24 age group in 1:12:41 (5:33/mi), finishing 2nd among all women in the field.
• Rachel McCardell ran the 4th-fastest women's closing split (15K→finish) to surge from 13th to 7th among women, locking up 2nd in the age group in 1:17:41.
• Elizabeth Talbi held 3rd in the age group with a 1:20:20, posting the 9th-fastest women's split on the 5K→8K segment before fading slightly in the back half.
• A five-minute gap separates the top three from 4th-place Emily Akin (1:24:10), with the next 16 finishers bunched across roughly 31 minutes.

Seventy-nine degrees, 20 mph wind, and Chicago's notorious late-spring humidity — this was a race that punished anyone who went out too fast. Jackie Gaughan didn't flinch. The 20-year-old from Boston held 3rd among all women from the opening 5K all the way to the 10K mark, then moved up to 2nd among women — a position she held to the tape. Her 5:33/mi average on a brutal morning is the defining number of this age group's story.

Gaughan also posted the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 8K→10K segment, signaling that her move up the women's standings wasn't a lucky gap — she was actively pressing through the middle miles when the heat was at its worst. The 5-minute margin she built over McCardell tells you how complete her performance was.

Rachel McCardell had the best closing story in the age group. Sitting 13th among women at 5K, she quietly worked her way through the field all morning, then unleashed the 4th-fastest women's finishing split from 15K to the line to claim 2nd in F20-24 in 1:17:41. Elizabeth Talbi, meanwhile, showed early speed — her 9th-fastest women's split on the 5K→8K stretch had her sitting well inside the top ten among women — but the back half of the course in those conditions took a toll, and she settled for 3rd in 1:20:20.

Behind the podium, Emily Akin (1:24:10) and Susannah McCloskey (1:25:29) rounded out a strong top five, with McCloskey also producing the 19th-fastest women's closing split to finish well. In a 328-finisher age group on a demanding morning, every minute earned here meant something.