Long Beach Marathon F40-44: Ramirez Runs Away With It at 6:01 Pace

• Natalie Ramirez won the F40-44 race in 2:37:54 (6:01/mi) — just four seconds off the women's course record set in 1991, and the fastest pace in the field by a clear margin.
• Liliana Marcos finished 4th in 2:38:23 despite running a 6:02/mi average — 29 seconds behind Ramirez, a gap that opened on the back half of the race.
• The podium was decided by razor-thin margins: Nancy Martinez (2nd, 2:39:18) and Marcialynn Anthony (3rd, 2:39:53) were separated by just 35 seconds, with Anthony making up ground late via the 42nd-fastest women's split on the 13.1M–20M segment.
• Vivien Hamilton posted the most dramatic charge of the day, moving from 111th among women at 5.5 miles all the way to 70th by mile 20 en route to 5th place in 2:45:49.

Natalie Ramirez delivered the headline performance of the F40-44 field, running a controlled 6:01/mi from Long Beach's start to finish to clock 2:37:54 — a time that sits just four seconds outside Maria Trujillo's 1991 women's course record. She entered the back half of the race holding 23rd among women, then faded to 36th in the women's field over the final stretch — but her early bank was more than enough. Nobody in the F40-44 field came close to matching her pace.

The battle for 2nd and 3rd told a different story. Nancy Martinez (2nd, 2:39:18, 6:05/mi) ran a steady race, sitting 40th among women through the half, while Marcialynn Anthony (3rd, 2:39:53, 6:06/mi) was back in 77th among women at 5.5 miles but surged powerfully — her 42nd-fastest women's split on the 13.1M–20M segment hauled her all the way to 45th in the women's field and onto the podium. Anthony made up enormous ground; what's close is the final margin of 35 seconds, earned through a genuine second-half charge. Liliana Marcos (4th, 2:38:23) actually ran a faster average pace than both Martinez and Anthony at 6:02/mi but finished between Ramirez and the two chasers — a reminder that early positioning matters on a warm October morning in Long Beach.

Vivien Hamilton (5th, 2:45:49) was the comeback story of the race, climbing from 111th among women at 5.5 miles to 70th by mile 20, ultimately finishing in 2:45:49 at 6:19/mi. Behind her, Jessica Zhang (7th, 2:43:39) and Elizabeth Olivera (6th, 2:44:06) slotted in between, with 112 women completing the F40-44 field across a spread that ran all the way from Ramirez's 6:01 to the back of the pack — a deep and competitive group on a humid, 72-degree Long Beach afternoon.