Way Too Cool F70-99: Jeannette Hagen Leads a Fearless Trio Across the Finish

• Jeannette Hagen, 70, won the F70-99 group in 2:31:27 (15:09/mi), finishing 50th among women overall.
• Kai Parks, 74, took 2nd in 2:53:21 — 21:34 back — while Janet Pucci, 76, rounded out the podium in 3:03:20, a further 10:19 behind.
• Parks and Pucci both found their best stretch on the Fire Station→HWY 49 segment, posting the 71st- and 79th-fastest women's splits on that leg respectively — with Pucci actually edging Parks on that stretch despite finishing behind her overall.
• All three women are 70 or older, making this one of the more quietly remarkable corners of the entire race on a warm 63°F morning in Cool.

Three women lined up in the F70-99 group at Way Too Cool, and all three made it count. Jeannette Hagen, the youngest of the trio at 70, set the tone from the start and never relinquished her lead, coming home in 2:31:27 at a 15:09-per-mile clip. She was moving well enough in the second half to post the 41st-fastest women's split on that stretch — a genuine show of strength when the legs are already carrying ten miles of Sierra Nevada foothills.

Kai Parks, 74, ran a composed race through the middle segments before fading slightly in the women's field over the final stretch, slipping from 64th to 71st among women by the finish. Her 2:53:01 still represents a solid effort over this demanding course. Janet Pucci, the eldest of the group at 76, was notably stronger than Parks on the Fire Station→HWY 49 segment — posting the 71st-fastest women's split there to Parks's 79th — before finishing in 3:03:20. That late-race efficiency from Pucci is worth noting: she held her position among the women's field steady from that checkpoint all the way to the line.

The gap from first to third was 31:53, but the story here isn't separation — it's participation. Three women aged 70 to 76 ran ten miles of technical trail in the California foothills on a warm March morning, and every one of them finished.