Jed Smith Marathon F1-29: Gerber Owns the Age Group

• Solo winner: Rebekah Gerber, 27, of Phoenix, OR — 3:34:32 (8:11/mi avg), the only finisher in the F1-29 age group.
• Strong women's field position: Held 2nd among women from start to finish, never wavering across all six checkpoints.
• Standout split: Posted the 2nd-fastest women's split on the Out & Back→Lap 1 segment.
• Year-over-year improvement: Finished 3rd among women here in 2025 with a 3:55:30 — she's now 20:58 faster on the same course.

Rebekah Gerber made the F1-29 age group entirely her own on a cool, foggy Sacramento morning, crossing in 3:34:32 at an 8:11/mi average. There was no one in her age group to chase her down — but that didn't mean she was running without competition. She locked into 2nd among the women and held that spot with remarkable consistency through every checkpoint, from the opening miles to the finish line.

The Out & Back→Lap 1 segment was where Gerber showed her teeth, logging the 2nd-fastest women's split on that stretch. That kind of sustained urgency at a critical portion of the race tells the story of someone racing the full field, not just her age group.

The most compelling number, though, is the one she left behind: her 3:55:30 from this same race in 2025, where she finished 3rd among women. Today's 3:34:32 is nearly 21 minutes faster on the same course — a dramatic improvement that suggests she arrived in Sacramento with a very different set of intentions. The fog and 93% humidity weren't exactly inviting conditions for a fast time, which makes the gap to her prior result all the more striking.