F25-29: Sigei and Flanagan trade blows in a blazing Chicago duel

• Betty Sigei wins the F25-29 age group in 1:14:48 (5:42/mi), holding 2nd among women for most of the race before finishing 4th in the women's field.
• Kaylee Flanagan is just 5 seconds back at 1:14:53, posting the 4th-fastest women's split on the second half to make it a genuine race to the finish.
• Rachel Dadamio runs 1:17:43 — a 46-second PR over her 1:18:29 from this same race in 2022 — to claim 4th in the age group.
• Camille Blackman improves a full 1:55 over her 2023 showing (1:20:35 → 1:18:35), climbing to 5th.

Seventy-nine degrees, a 20 mph wind, and 26% humidity — Chicago handed these runners a tough morning, which makes what Sigei and Flanagan did even more striking. Sigei ran 5:42/mi from start to finish, sitting 2nd among women through the 8K before gradually slipping to 4th in the women's field by the line. Her sharpest move came between 5K and 8K, where she posted the 2nd-fastest women's split on that stretch — a burst that kept Flanagan at arm's length for most of the race.

Flanagan, though, never let the gap grow into a story. Locked in 5th among women from start to finish, she saved something for the back half, recording the 4th-fastest women's split on the second half of the course. She crossed at 1:14:53 — five seconds behind Sigei after 13.1 miles of racing. That's a margin of less than half a second per mile across the entire course.

Jane Bareikis rounded out the podium in 1:17:01, her best segment coming on the 8K-to-10K stretch where she posted the 6th-fastest women's split. Just behind her, Dadamio and Blackman both brought compelling return stories. Dadamio, who ran 1:18:29 here in 2022, improved by 46 seconds to finish 4th. Blackman, 5th in the women's field in 2023 at 1:20:35, came back and clocked 1:18:35 — nearly two minutes faster — to take 5th again, this time considerably quicker. Flannery Davis Love, who had finished 4th among women here in 2023, slipped to 6th this year, a reminder of just how competitive this age group has become at this race.