San Francisco Marathon NB30-34: Swan Sets the Pace in a Seven-Woman Showdown

• Makani Swan won the NB30-34 field in 3:49:12 (8:45/mi), posting the 3rd-fastest women's split on the 10.89M→Garmin Hill Challenge segment along the way.
• Yen Yoo ran the 7th-fastest women's split on the Garmin Hill Challenge→14.95M stretch, climbing from 14th to 7th among women en route to 2nd in NB30-34 in 4:25:55.
• Oberon Strong and Joshua Hoy finished just 1:21 apart — 4:37:06 and 4:38:27 — with Strong holding 3rd and Hoy 4th after both posted standout early splits on the 1.81M→6.52M segment (5th- and 6th-fastest women's splits, respectively).
• The NB30-34 field spanned over 1:52 from first to last, across seven finishers.

Makani Swan, 30, from Alameda, dominated the NB30-34 field from start to finish. Running 8:45/mi through San Francisco's famously hilly streets on a cool, humid Sunday morning, she crossed in 3:49:12 — nearly 37 minutes clear of her nearest rival. She entered the race sitting 3rd among women overall and, while the broader women's field eventually moved around her, her NB30-34 crown was never in doubt. Her 3rd-fastest women's split on the 10.89M→Garmin Hill Challenge stretch showed she was pushing hard where it counted.

The race for 2nd and 3rd told a more dynamic story. Yen Yoo, 32, from Long Island City, was a steady climber — moving from 14th among women at the opening checkpoint all the way to 7th by the finish, fueled in part by the 7th-fastest women's split on the Garmin Hill Challenge→14.95M segment. She finished in 4:25:55 to claim 2nd. Meanwhile, Oberon Strong (4:37:06) and Joshua Hoy (4:38:27) both came out strong on the early 1.81M→6.52M stretch — Strong's 5th-fastest and Hoy's 6th-fastest women's splits there suggested an aggressive opening — but each faded through the women's standings as the miles accumulated, with Strong holding on for 3rd.

Ellen Larson, 34, from Chicago, rounded out the top five in 5:04:42 (11:37/mi), while Louisa Frazier finished 6th in 5:36:39 and Heather Cousins closed out the seven-woman NB30-34 field in 5:42:01.