American River 50 — Women's 25-Mile F60-69: Kortz Dominates in Five Hours Flat

• Kim Kortz won the F60-69 group in 5:00:15 (12:01/mi), finishing more than 19 minutes clear of second place.
• Kortz posted the 4th-fastest second-half split among all women, a standout closing move in a field spanning all ages.
• Angie Pozzi held second from start to finish, crossing in 5:19:40 — a comfortable 1:10:00 gap back to third.
• The final three finishers — Hughes, Mccomas, and Youngberg — were separated by only 29:53 across places 3 through 5, with Youngberg edging Mccomas by just 5:22 at the line.

Kim Kortz made the F60-69 race look straightforward from the gun. The 60-year-old from Folsom moved through the women's field during the first half, then sealed her win with a strong back half — her 4th-fastest second-half split among all women on the course confirmed she wasn't just holding on but genuinely racing to the finish. A 12:01/mi average over 25 miles in the foothills on a clear April morning is a performance that holds up against any company.

Angie Pozzi of Granite Bay ran a composed, consistent race for second. The 66-year-old tracked between 10th and 11th among women throughout and never fell off her pace, finishing in 5:19:40 at 12:47/mi. At 66, Pozzi was the oldest finisher in the group and the runner-up — a detail worth noting.

Behind them, the battle for third through fifth played out across the back half of the course. Julie Hughes (6:29:40) was the strongest of the trio in the closing stretch, posting the 24th-fastest women's split on the Last Gasp to Finish segment to secure third. Susan Mccomas and Carolyn Youngberg waged the day's closest fight — Mccomas crossed in 6:54:11 and Youngberg in 6:59:33, just five and a half minutes apart after nearly seven hours of racing. Youngberg actually gained ground late, logging the 32nd-fastest women's split on that same closing segment to make it interesting, but Mccomas had built just enough of a cushion to hold fourth.