F40-44 Half Marathon: Cathleen Willy Dominates in Fresno Heat

• Cathleen Willy won the F40-44 group in 1:24:09 (6:25/mi), finishing more than 10 minutes clear of runner-up Lili Peng — the widest gap on the podium.
• Willy posted the 5th-fastest women's split on the opening 1M→10K segment, then held her edge all the way home.
• Valerie Kao (4th, 1:38:35) and the 3rd-place anonymous finisher (1:37:59) produced the 15th- and 18th-fastest women's splits on the 10K→Finish leg, both making significant moves in the back half.
• 85 women finished in the F40-44 age group, with the top 20 all coming in under 2:10.

With 74°F and clear skies over Fresno, conditions were warm enough to make every minute matter — and Cathleen Willy made them count. The 41-year-old from Clovis came through the 1-mile mark sitting 37th among all women, then rocketed to 2nd by the 10K checkpoint and held that position to the line. Her 6:25/mi average tells the story: she was simply running a different race than everyone around her in the F40-44 field.

Lili Peng of Dublin had her own strong opening, climbing from 48th among women at the mile mark all the way to 11th by the finish, clocking 1:34:43 at 7:14/mi. She took 2nd in the age group comfortably, though Willy was long gone. Behind Peng, the real drama played out in the battle for 3rd and 4th. The anonymous 44-year-old and Valerie Kao — also 44, from Hayward — were both outside the top 19 among women at the 10K mark. Each turned on the jets over the second half, with the anonymous finisher posting the 15th-fastest women's split on the 10K→Finish leg and Kao the 18th-fastest, separating themselves from the pack to claim the final podium spots in 1:37:59 and 1:38:35 respectively.

Amy Haste (5th, 1:47:45) rounded out the top five, her 8:13/mi pace reflecting a harder day in the heat. Maribel Jimenez and Lisa Maher ran nearly stride for stride in 6th and 7th — just eight seconds apart at 1:49:27 and 1:49:35 — providing the closest battle of the afternoon. Across all 85 finishers in the F40-44 group, the depth was real, with the top 20 all finishing under 2:10 on a warm Central Valley morning.