F50-59: Andrea Foster Runs Away from the Field on the Tahoe Rim

• Andrea Foster, 51, wins in 8:19:03 (16:04/mi avg) — more than 36 minutes clear of 2nd place.
• Suzy Kisylia and Wendy M battle for the podium, finishing just 4 minutes 12 seconds apart: Kisylia 2nd in 8:55:56, Wendy M 3rd in 9:00:08.
• Kristen Kercher (4th, 9:26:01) and Hong Wan (5th, 9:38:24) both ran strong Snow Valley Peak→Hobart splits — Kercher the 16th-fastest women's split on that segment, Wan the 31st — to round out the top five.
• 17 finishers completed the course, with the back of the field navigating the high-elevation terrain up to nearly 9,000 feet — Michelle Mason crossing 17th in 12:20:30.

Andrea Foster made this one look controlled from the start. Her gender place among the women's field told an interesting story: she sat 12th after the opening segment, slipped back as far as 34th at one checkpoint, then steadily reeled off a sustained push that carried her all the way to 19th among all women by the finish — a climb that, within the F50-59 field, translated to a commanding wire-to-wire victory. Her 15th-fastest women's split on the Hobart→Waterfall leg was a key moment in that progression, and her 16:04/mi average across a course topping out near 9,000 feet is a genuine statement of strength.

The real drama of the day was the fight for second. Suzy Kisylia, 57 and racing from Walnut Creek, was patient and consistent — her gender place barely shifted across the back half of the course, and she posted the 25th-fastest women's split on Snow Valley Peak→Hobart to lock down 2nd in 8:55:56. Wendy M, 51, was the one applying pressure, running the 19th-fastest women's split on the Waterfall→Finish leg to close hard and finish 3rd in 9:00:08. Wendy made up real time on that final push, but Kisylia had built just enough of a cushion — four minutes proved to be exactly enough.

Behind the podium, Leslie Smith (6th, 9:43:18) and Tonia Ho (7th, 9:55:02) kept the competition honest through the mid-field, while Mandy Hunt (9th, 11:02:17) and Karen Offril (10th, 11:04:54) were separated by just 2 minutes 37 seconds after more than eleven hours on the trail. At the back, Kate Panepinto (15th, 12:13:28), Jessica Kelly (16th, 12:15:14), and Michelle Mason (17th, 12:20:30) finished within seven minutes of each other — a tight cluster after a long day on a demanding course at altitude.