Chicago 13.1 Half Marathon: Thendral Prabu Claims the W20-24 Title

• Thendral Prabu won the W20-24 race in 2:14:58 (10:18/mi), posting the 12th-fastest women's split on the 15K-to-finish stretch.
• Emerson Brown finished 2nd in 2:22:09 — wait, 2:22:49 (10:54/mi), nearly 8 minutes back, but owned the 19th-fastest women's split on the 10K–15K leg.
• Mac Kazin rounded out the three-woman group in 2:32:10 (11:36/mi), flashing the 20th-fastest women's split on the 5K–8K segment.
• Nearly 18 minutes separated first from third across the W20-24 field.

Three women lined up for the W20-24 race at Chicago 13.1 on a punishing June morning — 79°F, 20 mph winds, and humidity that, while relatively low at 26%, did nothing to offset the heat baking the course. Under those conditions, finishing a half marathon at 10:18/mi is a genuine accomplishment, and Thendral Prabu of Chicago did exactly that, pulling away to win by 7:51 over runner-up Emerson Brown.

Prabu's race had a telling rhythm to it. She moved through the women's field steadily, sitting 17th among women at the first checkpoint, climbing to 15th by the second, and ultimately finishing 17th among women — a position she fought to hold in the back half. Her strongest moment came late: that 12th-fastest women's split from 15K to the finish line signals she had something left when it mattered most, closing hard through the wind and heat while others faded.

Brown, making the trip down from Lafayette, Indiana, had her own standout stretch — the 10K-to-15K segment, where she logged the 19th-fastest women's split in the field. She moved from 21st to 19th among women over the course of the race, a quiet, consistent performance that secured a solid 2nd-place finish in 2:22:49.

Mac Kazin, running on home turf in Hickory Hills, showed her best stuff early — the 20th-fastest women's split from 5K to 8K — but the back half of the course proved tougher, and she crossed in 2:32:10 to complete the W20-24 podium. On a day this warm and this windy, all three finishing times deserve respect.