Masters Women at Jed Smith: Madsen Dominates While Arnold and Brown Stage a Thriller

• Julia Madsen (El Dorado Hills, 46) won the Masters Women's race in 2:45:51 (8:54/mi), posting the 2nd-fastest women's split on both Lap 1 and Lap 2 and never leaving 3rd among all women.
• Julie Arnold, 65, edged Anabella Brown, 57, for 2nd place — 2:59:12 to 3:00:20 — a margin of just 68 seconds after 30 kilometers of racing in the rain.
• Pris French, 76, of Roseville, completed the course in 4:59:12 — the only finisher in this field to break five hours from the other direction, and a genuine standout for her age alone.
• The top five all finished between 2:45 and 3:12, a tight 25-minute window across a 10-finisher Masters field.

Cold, wet, and windy on the American River Parkway — 51°F, light rain, 14 mph wind — the Masters Women's race at the 2025 Jed Smith Ultra Classic 30K produced a decisive winner and a gripping battle just behind her. Julia Madsen controlled the race from start to finish, holding 3rd among all women at every checkpoint while running 8:54/mi across the full 30K. Her consistency was the story: back-to-back 2nd-fastest women's splits on Lap 1 and Lap 2 told you this was no accident.

The real drama unfolded in the chase. Julie Arnold, 65, ran a strong Out & Back and Lap 1 — the 4th-fastest women's split across those segments — climbing from 6th among women at the first checkpoint all the way to 4th by the finish, where she crossed in 2:59:12. Anabella Brown, 57, was right on her heels, having also surged through the Out & Back and Lap 1 segments (5th-fastest women's splits there) to move from 8th to 5th among women. Brown finished in 3:00:20 — 68 seconds back, a gap that felt both close and conclusive. Tracy Pengilly (3:07:16) and Elizabeth Levin (3:11:30) rounded out the top five, with Pengilly fading slightly through the back half after a solid early position.

Kristen Klink (3:20:40) and Jenn Coyle (3:21:28) ran nearly side-by-side for 6th and 7th, separated by just 38 seconds, while Genevieve Callahan (3:32:27) and Kaoru Furukawa Cruz (3:34:30) finished 8th and 9th. Then there was Pris French — 76 years old, from Roseville — who finished 10th in 4:59:12 at 16:03/mi. On a miserable February morning, finishing a 30K at 76 is the kind of number that earns its own paragraph.