Boilermaker 15K F65-69: Whalen Rules Utica in the Heat

• Beverly Whalen, 66, wins in 1:30:55 (9:45/mi), nearly 4½ minutes clear of the field.
• Leigh Peck edges Angela Rizzo for 2nd — 1:35:17 to 1:35:21, four seconds separating them after 9.3 miles in 75°F heat and 90% humidity.
• Sue Tucker's middle-miles surge — she entered the 5K–10K stretch as low as 2,067rd among women and climbed to 1,229th by the finish, posting the 924th-fastest women's split on that segment.
• 39 women completed the F65-69 race, with the top 20 ranging from 1:30:55 to 1:58:41.

Beverly Whalen made the F65-69 race her own from early on. The 66-year-old from Farmington, NY steadily moved through the women's field — from 931st among women at the first checkpoint to 883rd at the finish — while running a composed 9:45/mi average. Her winning margin of 4 minutes and 22 seconds over Leigh Peck was never seriously threatened, and her 875th-fastest women's split on the 5K–10K segment showed she was still pressing through the middle miles rather than coasting.

Behind her, the battle for the podium was genuinely tight. Leigh Peck, 67, of Lutherville Timonium, MD, crossed in 1:35:17, with Angela Rizzo, 69, from Pembroke Pines, FL just four seconds back at 1:35:21. Rizzo had actually been the more aggressive mover on the 5K–10K leg — posting the 1,081st-fastest women's split on that segment compared to Peck's 1,138th on the second half — but Peck held the edge when it mattered at the line.

The most dramatic climb through the field belonged to Sue Tucker, 65, of Ilion, NY. Starting the 5K–10K stretch buried in 2,067th place among women, she ran the 924th-fastest women's split on that segment and surged all the way to 1,229th by the finish, securing 4th in 1:36:06. Diane Van Pelt (5th, 1:40:37) and Anne Riley (6th, 1:41:28) rounded out the top six, with Victoria Pedersen (7th, 1:42:34) and Henriette Carvalho (8th, 1:42:53) close behind in a thick mid-pack cluster — all four finishing within about two minutes of each other on a humid Utica morning.