F50-59 at Rio Del Lago 50K: Ginny Daly Runs Her Hometown to the Top

• Ginny Daly won the F50-59 group in 5:43:07 (11:03/mi), finishing 29 minutes ahead of runner-up Kristi Carlson.
• Daly posted the 5th-fastest women's split on the Beals Point 1→Willow Creek segment — one of the race's most decisive stretches.
• Carolyn Leary climbed from 20th among women at one checkpoint all the way to 11th by the finish, the biggest sustained move in the group.
• The F50-59 field spanned nearly 3 hours and 10 minutes from first to last, with a tight three-way battle for 3rd through 5th separated by just 6:48.

Granite Bay's own Ginny Daly made her home course count. Running at 11:03 per mile across 31 miles of Sierra Nevada foothills on a warm, clear November day, the 54-year-old built a lead that was never seriously threatened. Her 5th-fastest women's split on the Beals Point 1→Willow Creek leg showed she wasn't just managing the race — she was racing it. By the time the final checkpoint came and went, she had locked in 5th among all women and the F50-59 title.

Kristi Carlson ran one of the more quietly impressive races in the group. Starting 17th among women, the 57-year-old from Vacaville steadily worked her way forward through every checkpoint, eventually settling into 9th among women and 2nd in F50-59 at 6:12:15. Her 5th-fastest women's split on the Beals Point 2→Granite Beach 1 segment confirmed she found her best legs in the back half of the race.

The fight for the final podium spot was genuinely compelling. Carolyn Leary, 59, had the most turbulent day of the three — dropping as far back as 20th among women before clawing her way to 11th and 3rd in F50-59 at 6:35:00. Behind her, Jeannette Palmer (6:38:48) and Annalisa Co (6:41:40) finished within seven minutes of each other, with Co notably jumping six places among women in the second half of the race. At 50, both Co and Hiroko Furukawa were the youngest in the field — a reminder that in F50-59, the decade covers a lot of ground.