Fort Ord 10K F60-69: Hardy Commands the Trail

• Ingeburg Hardy (Pacific Grove, CA, age 64) won the F60-69 group in 1:13:21 at an 11:48/mi pace — nearly 8 minutes clear of the field.
• Hardy climbed from 41st to 31st among women on the Skyline→Finish segment, posting the 22nd-fastest women's split on that stretch.
• Ann Nash (2nd, 1:21:29) faded on the closing segment, dropping from 40th to 52nd among women — while Mairtini Ni Dhomhnaill (3rd, 1:26:16) posted the 52nd-fastest women's split on Skyline→Finish and held nearly steady, moving from 63rd to 62nd.
• Benedikte Milling brought an international presence, traveling from Faaborg, Denmark to finish 4th in 1:29:30.

Ingeburg Hardy was simply in a different race. Her 1:13:21 at 11:48/mi was not only the fastest in the F60-69 group by nearly eight minutes — it was a performance that had her climbing through the broader women's field all the way to the finish. That Skyline→Finish surge, the 22nd-fastest women's split on that segment, is what separated her from a competitive race into a dominant one.

Behind her, the battle for the podium had an interesting twist in the closing miles. Ann Nash had run herself into 2nd place through the early going, sitting 40th among women heading into the Skyline→Finish segment. But she faded there, slipping to 52nd among women, finishing in 1:21:29 at 13:07/mi. Mairtini Ni Dhomhnaill, running from Menlo Park, was steadier when it mattered — her 52nd-fastest women's split on that segment was notably quicker than Nash's 60th-fastest, and while her 1:26:16 left her 3rd, she was the one making up time on the closing stretch.

Benedikte Milling made the trip from Faaborg, Denmark worthwhile, crossing 4th in 1:29:30 at 14:24/mi, while Alexandra Sumners (Seaside, CA) rounded out the scoring finishers in 5th at 1:45:38. Kerry Walgren of Morro Bay completed the six-woman group in 2:04:51 — six finishers ranging across 51 minutes of racing, every one of them navigating Fort Ord's trails on a breezy, humid February morning.