F20-24 Marathon: Paige Moore Flies to a Stunning Win

• Paige Moore wins in 2:12:19 at 5:03/mi — a time that would have broken the women's course record set in 1991, underscoring just how extraordinary her run was.
• Hope Stark climbs from 11th to 6th among women on the back half, posting the 3rd-fastest women's split from 13.1M to 20M to lock up 2nd in F20-24 at 2:16:18.
• Brooke Decker, the biggest mover in the group, surged from 40th among women at the first checkpoint all the way to 14th by the finish, running the 8th-fastest women's split from 13.1M to 20M en route to a 2:25:16 and 4th place.
• A 9:55 gap separates 6th from 7th — Ella Nyholm (2:32:29) edges Iliana Treyger (2:31:59) in the finish order despite Treyger's faster clock, meaning Nyholm held the edge where it counted.

Paige Moore of Rancho Palos Verdes simply ran away from the F20-24 field — and most of the women's race with her. Holding 2nd among all women from the opening miles through the finish, she averaged 5:03 per mile across 26.2 miles in 72°F humidity, crossing in 2:12:19. That's a time faster than the standing women's course record of 2:35:50, set by Maria Trujillo in 1991. She also posted the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 5.5M-to-13.1M stretch, making clear this wasn't a cautious front-running job — she was pushing hard through the middle miles and never let up.

Hope Stark made the most compelling second-half charge in the group. Starting the race 11th among women, she had climbed to 8th by halfway and reached 6th by the finish, her 3rd-fastest women's split from 13.1M to 20M doing the heavy lifting. She finished in 2:16:18 — nearly four minutes back of Moore, but a comfortable 5:24 clear of Keely Berger, who took 3rd in 2:21:44 after a mid-race dip from 8th to 11th among women before recovering to 9th.

The race's most dramatic climb belonged to Brooke Decker. The 20-year-old from Los Gatos was 40th among women at 5.5 miles, a position that would have left her outside the top five in F20-24. She steadily reeled in competitors, running the 8th-fastest women's split from halfway to mile 20, and finished 4th in the group at 2:25:16 — one of the sharpest negative-split stories of the day. Camilla Eskelinen of Long Beach, running on home turf, rounded out the top five at 2:23:13 despite finishing ahead of Decker on the clock — the places tell the fuller story of who ran the stronger back half.