Rio Del Lago 50K: Kathryn Holt Commands the F20-29 Field

• Holt wins in 5:46:34 (11:09/mi), more than 52 minutes clear of the runner-up — the dominant margin in the F20-29 group.
• Allison Christenson held 6th among women through the early miles before settling into 13th by the finish, clocking 6:38:48 for 2nd in the age group.
• Holt posted the 4th-fastest women's split on the Beals Point → Willow Creek segment — a standout stretch that underscored her control of the race.
• Christenson answered with the 10th-fastest women's split on Beals Point 2 → Granite Beach 1, the strongest single-segment showing of the 2nd-through-4th battle.

Kathryn Holt, 26, from Auburn — practically a local — ran the F20-29 race in a class of her own. She held 4th among women through the opening checkpoints and never drifted, maintaining that position until the back half of the course, where she settled at 6th in the women's field by the finish. Her 11:09/mi average over 31 miles in 72°F heat tells the story of a composed, confident effort, and her 4th-fastest women's split on the Beals Point → Willow Creek segment was the sharpest individual leg of anyone in the group.

Allison Christenson, also 26, made the longer journey from Ann Arbor worth it with a solid 6:38:48. She was aggressive early — sitting 6th among women at the first checkpoint — but the field gradually came back to her, and she crossed 13th among women by the tape. Her 10th-fastest women's split on Beals Point 2 → Granite Beach 1 was a bright spot in the back half, showing she had something left when it counted.

Sarah Crowe, 25, of Sacramento rounded out the podium in 7:01:29, running consistently in the 19th–21st range among women across the final checkpoints. Laura Lemire, 29, from Mariposa capped the four-woman group in 8:27:48 — a full 1:26:19 behind Crowe — but she actually moved forward in the women's field across the middle of the race, climbing from 35th to 31st before holding steady the rest of the way.