Way Too Cool 10M F60-69: Carrie Gale Runs Clear in the California Heat

• Carrie Gale, 65, wins in 2:01:16 (12:08/mi), finishing 5:01 ahead of runner-up Kathy Finney — a comfortable margin that was never seriously threatened.
• Kathy Finney, 61, closes strongest — moving from 21st to 17th among women in the second half, posting the 10th-fastest women's split on the Second Half segment to lock up 2nd place in 2:06:17.
• Annette Schiltz and Cathy Targett battle for 4th — separated by just 30 seconds (2:24:36 vs. 2:25:06) across 10 miles.
• 18 women completed the F60-69 race, with the field spanning from Gale's 12:08/mi to Beth Laskey's 17:07/mi — a full five minutes per mile of range.

Carrie Gale of Granite Bay controlled this race from start to finish. Her gender place held rock-steady at 15th among all women across every checkpoint — no drama, no drift, just disciplined, consistent effort at 12:08/mi. On the Fire Station→HWY 49 stretch she posted the 11th-fastest women's split in the field, a sign she was pushing where it counted, and she crossed the line in 2:01:16 with room to spare.

Behind her, Kathy Finney ran the smarter second half. The 61-year-old from Newcastle climbed from 21st to 17th among women over the course of the race, and her 10th-fastest women's split on the back half tells the story — she was getting stronger while others were fading. Her 2:06:17 finish secured 2nd place in the F60-69 group by a clear margin, with Holly Edes of Sacramento coming home 3rd in 2:20:03.

The most watchable duel in the closing miles was between Annette Schiltz (4th, 2:24:36) and Cathy Targett (5th, 2:25:06). Thirty seconds separated them after ten miles of trail running in 69°F heat — Targett, 67, from San Francisco, actually posted the 28th-fastest women's split on the HWY 49→Finish segment, suggesting she was pushing hard to close the gap. It wasn't quite enough, but it made for a genuine race within the race.

Further back, the F60-69 field showed real depth and grit. Derraugh Dawson (7th, 2:30:26) and Xena Xiaoqin Zhang (8th, 2:30:29) were separated by just three seconds. Kathy Root (10th), Julie Hertzig (11th), and Rebecca Suhr (12th) all finished within 25 seconds of each other around the 2:41 mark, making that stretch of the results genuinely tight. Beth Laskey of Penryn rounded out the 18-woman field in 2:51:11.