Masters Women: Jennifer Pope Runs Away with It on the Minneapolis–Saint Paul Point-to-Point

• Jennifer Pope wins in 2:43:04 (6:13/mi), the fastest Masters Women's time on the day by nearly five minutes over runner-up Jen Van Otterloo (2:48:00).
• Van Otterloo improves on her own history: she ran 2:46:12 here in 2024 to finish 9th among women — this time she went two minutes slower but climbed to 2nd in the Masters Women's field.
• Jennifer Funk's late surge: running the 15th-fastest women's split on the 30K–35K segment, Funk moved from 30th among women to 22nd and locked up 3rd in Masters Women at 2:55:55.
• Gwen Jacobson, age 68, finished 9th in the Masters Women's field in 3:21:23 — one of the most remarkable results in a field of 888.

On a crisp October morning — 50°F, clear skies, and a light breeze along the Chain of Lakes and the Mississippi — Jennifer Pope of Plano, TX ran the kind of race that leaves little room for debate. Her 6:13/mi pace held steady from Minneapolis to Saint Paul, and her 5th-fastest women's split on the 10K–15K segment signaled early that she was operating at a different level than the field around her. She sat 11th among all women through most of the race and finished there, meaning the Masters Women's title was won by someone competing at the very front of the entire women's race.

Jen Van Otterloo of Sioux Center, IA was the clear runner-up at 2:48:00 (6:24/mi), a noticeably harder-working pace than Pope's but a strong effort in its own right. Van Otterloo held 13th among women through the opening 10K — logging the 13th-fastest women's split on that segment — and faded gradually to 15th by the finish. She knows this course: her 2:46:12 here in 2024 placed her 9th among women, and while today's time was a touch slower, she still claimed the Masters Women's silver.

Jennifer Funk (2:55:55, 6:43/mi) rounded out the podium with one of the day's better finishing kicks — her 15th-fastest women's split from 30K to 35K lifted her from 30th to 22nd in the women's field and secured 3rd in Masters Women. Behind her, Suzie McEwen of Maple Grove, MN crossed in 2:58:21 for 4th, and Birte Fretwell of St. Paul — racing on home roads — took 5th in 3:14:39.

The story that may outlast all others, though, belongs to Gwen Jacobson of Rochester, MN. At 68, she finished 9th in the Masters Women's field in 3:21:23 (7:41/mi), threading through a field of 888 with a time that would be the envy of runners half her age. Katherine Anderson and Emily Anderson crossed 7th and 8th just seconds apart — 3:20:06 and 3:20:08 — with 2 seconds separating them after 26.2 miles, before Jacobson came through just over a minute later to claim the spot above Andrea Gray (10th, 3:21:27).