Masters Women: Alicia Rider Wins It in the Second Half

• Alicia Rider, 21:13 (6:50/mi) — wins the Masters Women field of 339, closing with the 5th-fastest women's split on the back half.
• Kyla Maher, 21:18 — gains two spots among women in the final 2.5K with the 4th-fastest women's closing split, finishing 5 seconds back in 2nd.
• Beth Eastman, 21:25 — rounds out the podium in 3rd, holding her women's place steady through the finish with the 6th-fastest closing split.
• Ursula Hill surges from 25th to 18th among women in the back half, posting the 15th-fastest women's closing split en route to 5th in Masters Women at 23:39.

Alicia Rider, 45, of Winston-Salem, NC, crossed first in the Masters Women field in 21:13 — a 6:50/mi clip on a breezy San Francisco morning with 17 mph winds and 60°F temperatures. She entered the halfway point sitting 6th among women, then moved to 7th by the finish, but within the Masters Women field, no one touched her. Her 5th-fastest women's split on the 2.5K-to-finish stretch was the engine that sealed it.

The real drama at the front was a genuine catch-up story. Kyla Maher, 41, of San Anselmo, came through the second half with the 4th-fastest women's closing split in the field — faster than Rider's — and climbed from 10th to 8th among women. But Rider's cushion from the first half held, and Maher settled for 2nd in 21:18, just five seconds adrift. Beth Eastman, 41, of Hobart, WI, was steady throughout, holding 9th among women across both halves and finishing 3rd in 21:25 with the 6th-fastest closing split.

Fourth went to San Francisco's own Stephanie Ellis, 40, in 22:39, who climbed from 14th to 13th among women on the strength of the 12th-fastest closing split. Then came a tight three-way cluster: Ursula Hill (23:39), Michelle Duncan (23:39), and Alba Elena Silva Gutierrez (23:41) separated by just two seconds across 5th, 6th, and 7th. Hill's late charge — moving from 25th to 18th among women in the back half — was the most dramatic positional swing in the top ten. Stacey Kitchens, 55, of Social Circle, GA, was the top finisher in her 50s, taking 10th in 24:27, while Shuyaa Chen, 60, of Sacramento, claimed 17th in 26:38 as the eldest athlete in the listed top 20.