W70-74: Nora Cary Dominates in a Class of Her Own

• Nora Cary won the W70-74 group in 1:43:39 — a 7:54/mi average that left the rest of the field more than an hour behind her.
• Jerri Baccus Glover finished 17th overall in the group but clocked the second-fastest time of any listed finisher at 2:42:16 (12:23/mi), a full six minutes ahead of runner-up Marie Wickham's 2:48:18.
• Marie Wickham (2nd) and Judith Hudson (3rd) were separated by just under four minutes — 2:48:18 to 2:52:13 — with both making strong moves in the second half of the race.
• Bette Clark (9th, 3:02:34) finished ahead of 5th-place Susie Marnell (3:03:19) on the clock, a reminder that placement within the group was decided by timing finer than the displayed minutes.

Nora Cary, 71, from Morristown, NJ, turned this into a solo time trial. Her 1:43:39 on a crisp 40°F morning through Prospect Park to Central Park was simply in a different universe from the rest of the W70-74 field — a gap of nearly 59 minutes to the next finisher. She showed her sharpest running between 10K and 15K, posting the 656th-fastest women's split on that segment across the entire women's field, a remarkable benchmark at any age. Her gender place actually tightened through the middle miles, peaking at 739th among all women before she settled to 791st at the finish — a sign she was running with real authority.

Behind Cary, the race for the podium told its own story. Marie Wickham (2nd, 2:48:18) and Judith Hudson (3rd, 2:52:13) both came alive in the second half. Wickham's final stretch was her strongest segment of the day by gender standing — climbing from 4,969th among women to 4,574th — and Hudson mirrored that pattern, gaining more than 550 places among women in the back half. Neither could close the gap between them significantly, but both earned their podium spots through late-race momentum rather than fading.

One subplot worth noting: Jerri Baccus Glover, finishing 17th in the W70-74 group, posted 2:42:16 — the second-fastest time among the listed finishers, behind only Cary. The placement system accounts for factors beyond net time, but her 12:23/mi pace was a genuine standout in this field. Meanwhile, at the other end of the top ten, Bette Clark (3:02:34) and Susie Marnell (3:03:19) were separated by just 45 seconds across 13.1 miles — a tight battle that played out over the full course on a clear, cold March morning.