F30-39 at Way Too Cool: Ellis Takes the Age Group with a Late-Race Surge

• Stephanie Ellis (38, San Francisco) won the F30-39 age group in 1:42:25 (10:15/mi), posting the fastest women's split on the Fire Station→HWY 49 stretch to seal her victory.
• Karen Horvath (36, Citrus Heights) finished 2nd in 1:43:50 — just 1:25 back — and answered with the 3rd-fastest women's split on the HWY 49→Finish leg.
• Alyson Cheney (31, Nevada City) rounded out the podium in 1:50:37, holding 5th among women through the middle of the race before closing to 4th by the finish.
• Sixteen women finished the age group, with the top five all cracking 1:53 and a gap of more than 30 minutes separating the podium from the back of the field.

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Stephanie Ellis ran a smart, aggressive race. She came through the early checkpoints in 3rd among women before surging to 2nd on the Fire Station→HWY 49 segment — where she posted the fastest women's split of anyone in the field on that stretch — and never looked back. Her 10:15/mi average across the hilly Cool terrain was the standard-setter in the F30-39 group, and she held that 2nd-among-women position all the way to the tape.

Karen Horvath made it interesting. She actually held 2nd among women through the opening checkpoint before Ellis moved past her, and the two traded places in a tight mid-race duel. Horvath's 3rd-fastest women's closing split on the HWY 49→Finish leg shows she had plenty left — she just couldn't quite reel Ellis back in, finishing 1:25 behind. At 10:23/mi, the gap between them was razor-thin for most of the race.

Behind the top two, Alyson Cheney (31) was a quiet mover, climbing from 5th among women at mid-race to 4th by the finish and earning the 7th-fastest women's closing split. Tia Stewart (30) and Nataly Castellano (33) also made ground in the back half — Stewart posted the 4th-fastest women's Fire Station→HWY 49 split, Castellano the 3rd-fastest on the same segment — finishing 4th and 5th in the age group respectively. The final five finishers spread across a wide range of paces, but all 16 women made it to the finish line on a clear, mild March afternoon in Cool.