San Francisco Marathon F40-44: Kelp-Stebbins Runs Away From the Field

• Kate Kelp-Stebbins won the F40-44 race in 3:10:35 (7:16/mi), finishing more than 11 minutes 52 seconds ahead of runner-up Laura Baumann.
• Baumann (3:22:27) held off Marin Pilloud (3:31:20) for 2nd, while Pilloud and Rebecca Blodgett (3:31:42) were separated by just 22 seconds at the line for 3rd and 4th.
• Pilloud posted the 39th-fastest women's split on the second half of the course, steadily climbing from 54th among women at mile 18 to finish 37th — a strong close.
• Victoria Wood (4:03:46, 16th) raced the San Francisco weekend across two distances, also finishing 10th among women in the Saturday 5K.

Kate Kelp-Stebbins made this F40-44 race her own from the start. The Eugene, OR runner was tracking as high as 6th among all women through the early miles, and while the broader women's field eventually moved ahead of her mid-race, she surged back to 6th among women by mile 24 before settling into her final position. Her 7:16/mi average across 26.2 miles in 54°F, fog-draped San Francisco conditions was the dominant performance of the day, and her 7th-fastest women's split on the 2.2-to-5.7-mile stretch showed she was pushing the pace from the opening miles.

Behind her, the race for 2nd through 4th was a study in contrasting strategies. Laura Baumann (Stockton, CA) ran a measured first half and then turned on the jets late — her 18th-fastest women's split from miles 18 to 24 was the engine that secured her 2nd-place finish at 3:22:27. Marin Pilloud (Reno, NV, age 44) was patient to a fault early, sitting 54th among women at mile 18, but her strong second half brought her home in 3:31:20 — just 22 seconds ahead of Rebecca Blodgett (Flagstaff, AZ), who had run closer to the front early before fading through the middle miles.

The field of 122 finishers stretched well past the four-hour mark, with Hannah Lieberknecht (San Francisco, CA) rounding out the top five in 3:35:01 and Amy Cooper (Camas, WA) taking 6th in 3:42:29. Worth a mention: Victoria Wood of Thames Ditton didn't just run one San Francisco race this weekend — she also placed 10th among women in the Saturday 5K before completing the marathon in 4:03:46 for 16th here.