Women's Marathon: Chebii breaks the course record, Bareikis returns to defend

• Lilian Chebii, 2:25:26 — a new women's course record, erasing the mark that had stood since 2001/2004, at a 5:33/mi clip from Grand Prairie, TX.
• Jane Bareikis goes back-to-back on the podium — the 2025 champion returns and finishes 2nd in 2:32:04, going 38 seconds faster than her winning time a year ago.
• Caroline Hill's late surge — sitting 10th at 30K, Hill posted the fastest women's split on the 30K→35K leg to climb all the way to 3rd by the finish in 2:33:25.
• A tight chase pack — 4th through 6th (Fisher 2:34:14, Kutluk Ala 2:34:30, Feyen 2:34:47) were separated by just 33 seconds across three finishers.

Lilian Chebii ran the kind of race that rewrites record books. The 32-year-old from Grand Prairie, TX, led the women's field wire-to-wire — holding 1st at every checkpoint — and crossed in 2:25:26, breaking the women's course record that had stood for over two decades. She also owned the fastest women's split on the 5K→10K segment, signaling early that this was no ordinary day on the point-to-point course from Minneapolis to Saint Paul.

Right behind her, Jane Bareikis wrote her own compelling chapter. The 32-year-old from Crestwood, IL, won this race in 2025 in 2:32:52 and came back in 2026 to finish 2nd in 2:32:04 — 48 seconds faster than her own winning time. She held 2nd place at every single checkpoint and posted the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 5K→10K leg, never wavering. Defending a title is one thing; coming back and running faster while someone else claims it is another story entirely.

The most dramatic move of the day belonged to Caroline Hill. The 25-year-old from Auburn Hills, MI, was running in 4th through the first half and slipped to 10th by 30K — then ignited. She posted the fastest women's split on the 30K→35K leg, climbing from 10th all the way back to 3rd, where she held on to finish in 2:33:25. Ari Fisher (4th, 2:34:14) was steady throughout, posting the 3rd-fastest women's split on the HALF→25K segment, while Yonca Kutluk Ala (5th, 2:34:30) and Minneapolis local Dana Feyen (6th, 2:34:47) completed a fiercely competitive chase group separated by just 33 seconds at the line.

Further back, Jennifer Pope (11th, 2:43:04) was the top finisher 40 and older, and Jen Van Otterloo (15th, 2:48:00) improved her own 2024 finish here of 2:46:12 — though this time she arrived 15th rather than 9th, a sign of how much deeper the women's field ran in 2026. All told, 3,216 women finished on a crisp October morning along the Chain of Lakes and the Mississippi.