Masters Women: Sheri Piers Runs 2:57:35 to Take the Title in Virginia Beach Heat

• Piers wins in 2:57:35 (6:46/mi), the only Masters woman to break three hours, closing with the fastest women's split from 25.2M to the finish.
• Kristin Barry (3:05:29) and Jessica Barkley (3:07:43) round out the podium, separated by just over two minutes in second and third.
• Atlanta trio Steele-Belkin, Kuramoto, and Franciscus finish 15th, 16th, and 17th in 3:33:45, 3:33:46, and 3:33:47 — three runners, three consecutive seconds.
• Gwen Jacobson, age 66, finishes 12th in 3:26:24 — one of the more remarkable performances in a 277-woman field running through 71°F heat and 17 mph winds.

Seventy-one degrees, a stiff 17 mph wind off the Virginia Beach coast, and 73% humidity — and Sheri Piers ran a 6:46-per-mile marathon. The 53-year-old from Falmouth, Maine, was methodical early, sitting around 6th or 7th among the women through the first half, then steadily climbing. By 20 miles she had moved to 4th among women, then 3rd, and she sealed it with the fastest women's split of the entire race from 25.2 miles to the finish — a closing kick that made the conditions look irrelevant. Her 2:57:35 was the only sub-3:00 in the Masters women's field.

Behind her, Kristin Barry (also from Maine, Scarborough) ran a composed 7:04-per-mile pace to finish 2nd in 3:05:29, posting the 7th-fastest women's split through the 5K-to-10K stretch in the early going. Jessica Barkley of West End, NC, was equally steady, climbing from 11th among women at the 5K to 7th by the finish, with the 7th-fastest women's split on the 10K-to-15K leg helping her secure 3rd in 3:07:43. Jessica Rosetti (4th, 3:10:30) added the 10th-fastest women's closing split to finish a clear step behind the podium.

The race's most eye-catching subplot came at positions 15 through 17, where Rachelle Kuramoto, Dara Steele-Belkin, and Zoe Franciscus — all from Atlanta — crossed in 3:33:45, 3:33:46, and 3:33:47. Three runners, three consecutive seconds, all from the same city. And then there's Gwen Jacobson of Rochester, MN: at 66, she finished 12th among 277 Masters women in 3:26:24 at 7:52 per mile. In those conditions, on that course, that result speaks for itself. Melissa Farley rounded out the top 20 in 3:23:41 (10th), having also placed 10th among women in the 8K earlier in the weekend — a strong double showing across two races.