San Francisco 5K 2025: Tania Vandepitte dominates the F25-29 field

• Tania Vandepitte won the F25-29 race in 25:14 (8:07/mi) — more than two minutes clear of the rest of the field.
• Virginia Ling (2nd, 27:24) and Wan-Yu Lai (3rd, 27:33) separated the silver and bronze by just nine seconds.
• Coco Wu and Emily Zhang both clocked 29:11 at 9:24/mi for 5th and 6th — the places settled by timing finer than the displayed second.
• The top 20 of 170 finishers spanned just over eight minutes, from Vandepitte's 25:14 to Azul Alvarado-Dadin's 33:03.

Tania Vandepitte, 26, from Dinant, made the F25-29 race her own from the start. Her 25:14 at 8:07/mi was a statement performance in San Francisco's notoriously demanding conditions — 56°F, 95% humidity, and a stiff 14 mph wind off the bay. The margin to second place was 2:10, a gap that left no room for doubt about who owned this race.

Behind her, Virginia Ling (27:24, 8:49/mi) and Wan-Yu Lai (27:33, 8:52/mi) ran a tight battle for the podium. Ling held the edge by nine seconds, running a noticeably sharper pace than Lai — a gap that looks small on paper but reflects a real difference in effort over 3.1 miles. Chance Van Cleef II rounded out the top four in 28:22 (9:08/mi), another 49 seconds back.

The most intriguing finish of the day came at 5th and 6th, where Coco Wu and Emily Zhang both stopped the clock at 29:11. The timing system ultimately separated them — Wu in 5th, Zhang in 6th — by a margin too small to see on the display. Both ran 9:24/mi, and both can claim they pushed each other to the line. Emily Lippert followed in 7th at 29:42, completing a tight cluster of four runners within 31 seconds of each other across places 5 through 8.

Further back, Lauren Siegel and Brittany McGee mirrored the Wu-Zhang finish, both recording 31:58 (10:17/mi) for 13th and 14th respectively, with the timing chip again providing the separation. In a field of 170, the F25-29 race delivered its share of duels — and one dominant winner who was never really in one.