F35-39 at Peachtree: Mercy Cherono Runs Away With It

• Mercy Cherono wins in 32:36 (5:15/mi), nearly three minutes clear of 2nd-place Risper Biyaki (35:26, 5:42/mi) in a field of 2,369 women.
• Cherono posted the 4th-fastest women's split on the 2M→3M segment, a stretch that coincided with her surging from 7th among women to 4th before ultimately settling into 13th among all women at the finish.
• Gina Domaoal (3rd, 39:06) ran the 49th-fastest women's split on 3M→4M, a late charge that helped her climb from 62nd among women at the opening checkpoint to 54th at the line.
• Lauren Nesselroad (4th, 39:45) and Amelia Shea (5th, 39:57) finished just 12 seconds apart, with Nesselroad holding the edge despite Shea running a faster 2M→3M split — a genuine catch-up that nearly closed the gap entirely.

On a warm, humid Fourth of July morning in Atlanta — 75°F and 68% humidity before the city fully woke up — Mercy Cherono made the F35-39 race look like a different event from everyone else's. Her 32:36 at 5:15/mi wasn't just a win; it was a statement. Risper Biyaki ran a composed and respectable 35:26 (5:42/mi) to claim 2nd, but the gap between first and second was 2:50 — more than enough to run a comfortable quarter-mile. Cherono's mid-race movement told the story: she was as high as 4th among all women through the middle miles before the overall women's field reshuffled around her, and her 4th-fastest women's split on the 2M→3M stretch shows exactly where she pressed the accelerator.

Behind Biyaki, the race for the podium's final step was a study in late-race execution. Gina Domaoal of Decatur crossed in 39:06 (6:18/mi) to claim 3rd, and her 49th-fastest women's split on the 3M→4M segment was the engine of it — she moved from 62nd among women at the first checkpoint all the way to 54th by the finish, a steady, purposeful climb through the field on Atlanta's rolling Peachtree Street terrain.

The battle for 4th and 5th was the race's closest subplot. Lauren Nesselroad (Pooler, GA) finished 4th in 39:45, with Amelia Shea (Lakewood, NJ) just 12 seconds back in 39:57. Shea actually ran a faster 2M→3M split — 58th-fastest among women to Nesselroad's 52nd, meaning Nesselroad still had the quicker mile there — but the gap that existed earlier in the race proved just enough for Nesselroad to hold on. Jennifer Huwe (Hixson, TN) rounded out the top six in 40:34 (6:32/mi), and from there the field spread through Kaitlin Lopez (7th, 42:02), Brooke Weinstein (8th, 42:49), Emily Maass (9th, 43:00), and Brittney Barnes (10th, 43:06) — four finishers within 17 seconds of each other in the heart of a 2,369-woman field.