F40-49 at Jed Smith Ultra Classic: Relf Dominates Wire to Wire

• Ashley Relf won the F40-49 group in 3:25:32 (7:51/mi), never relinquishing the lead among women across all six checkpoints.
• Relf posted the fastest women's split on the Out & Back→Lap 1 segment, setting the tone early and never looking back.
• Lindsay Carl ran the 5th-fastest women's split on Lap 2→Lap 3, finishing 2nd in F40-49 in 4:15:52 — a strong mid-race push that helped her climb from 8th to 6th among women.
• A field of four spread across nearly 3 hours of finish times, from Relf's 3:25:32 to Gysel Parajon's 6:24:32.

There was no suspense at the front of the F40-49 group on a cool, foggy Sacramento morning. Ashley Relf of Mill Valley held the top spot among women from the first checkpoint to the last, running a controlled 7:51/mi pace that no one in the age group could touch. Her fastest women's split on the Out & Back→Lap 1 leg made clear early that this was her race to lose — and she never gave anyone the chance.

Behind her, Lindsay Carl (Kaysville, UT) put together a quietly impressive second half, logging the 5th-fastest women's split on the Lap 2→Lap 3 segment and climbing steadily through the women's field on her way to a 4:15:52 finish at 9:46/mi. That's a 50-minute gap to Relf, but Carl's late-race pace showed she still had legs when others were fading. Yvonneke Larke of Sacramento rounded out the podium in 4:40:05 (10:41/mi), having posted the 6th-fastest women's split on the Out & Back→Lap 1 leg before settling into a steady rhythm through the back half.

Gysel Parajon of South Lake Tahoe closed out the F40-49 field in 6:24:32 — a 14:41/mi effort across a demanding course — and still managed the 9th-fastest women's split on the final Lap 3→Lap 4 segment, finishing 10th among women. In a small but determined group of four, every finisher earned their result on a heavy, fog-soaked morning along the Sacramento levees.