Fort Ord 10K: Melissa Ulrich Dominates the F40-49 Field

• Ulrich wins in 59:07 (9:31/mi), the only F40-49 finisher to break the hour mark — a full 1:21 ahead of runner-up Bernadette Renois.
• Renois holds steady at 1:00:28 (9:44/mi), finishing 8th among all women and posting the 13th-fastest Skyline→Finish split among the women — one spot ahead of Ulrich's 14th on that closing segment.
• Emily Gardner and Jessica Gavel ran a tight race for third and fourth, separated by just 23 seconds (1:05:59 vs. 1:06:22), with Gardner running a 10:37/mi pace to Gavel's 10:41/mi.
• Maureen Tedesco, 49, crossed 12th in 1:26:15 — the oldest finisher in the F40-49 group, completing the Fort Ord trails in her own right.

Melissa Ulrich, 40, from Pacific Grove, owned the F40-49 race from the front. She entered the Skyline→Finish stretch as high as 1st among women before settling 7th by the finish line — a sign that the broader women's field caught up late — but within the F40-49 group, she was untouchable. Her 59:07 is a full 81 seconds clear of second place, and her 9:31/mi pace set a standard no one else in the group could match on a cool, breezy morning at Fort Ord.

Bernadette Renois, a local from Monterey, was the closest challenger, crossing in 1:00:28 at 9:44/mi. Notably, Renois actually posted the 13th-fastest Skyline→Finish women's split to Ulrich's 14th — meaning she ran that final segment slightly faster — but the time Ulrich had already banked earlier in the race was simply too much to overcome. The gap between them at the line tells that story plainly.

The battle for third was the most compelling duel of the day. Emily Gardner (Carmel Valley, 1:05:59) and Jessica Gavel (Auburn, 1:06:22) ran nearly the entire race in proximity, with Gardner pulling away by 23 seconds at the finish. Both faded in the women's standings on the Skyline→Finish leg — Gardner moving from 10th to 17th among women, Gavel from 9th to 18th — but Gardner's slightly stronger closing split was enough to secure the bronze.

Behind them, Robin Bennett (5th, 1:10:17) and Veronika Spalekova (6th, 1:11:07) rounded out the top six within 50 seconds of each other, while Mariela Hernandez closed out the 14-woman F40-49 field in 1:45:36 — every finisher earning their miles on the trails of Monterey.