Boilermaker 5K F35-39: Connie Allen Runs Away With It

• Connie Allen won the F35-39 race in 20:59 (6:45/mi) — nearly 2 minutes clear of the field on a warm, 84°F morning in Utica.
• Ashleigh Moorehead (2nd, 22:58) held off Lan Bratek (3rd, 23:07) by just 9 seconds, with Rachel Fitzpatrick (4th, 23:10) only 3 seconds further back — three athletes separated by 12 seconds.
• Jessica Arcuri (5th, 23:23) and Kelly Lewis (6th, 23:27) rounded out a tight chase pack, with places 2 through 6 covered by under 30 seconds total.
• Jen Renner and Stephanie Manfredo both clocked 27:33 to share 19th and 20th — the timing strip splitting them by the narrowest of margins.

Connie Allen, 35, from Verona, NJ, made this race look almost effortless in the heat. Her 6:45/mi average was a full 39 seconds per mile faster than second-place Ashleigh Moorehead's 7:24/mi — and in 84°F heat with humidity pushing toward mid-morning, that gap only gets more impressive. Allen crossed in 20:59, leaving no doubt about who owned the F35-39 field on this day across a 259-woman field.

Behind her, the battle for the podium was anything but settled until the finish line. Moorehead (22:58) came in with a clear cushion over Cazenovia's Lan Bratek, who clocked 23:07 for 3rd. Then came Rachel Fitzpatrick of Glenside, PA, in 23:10 — just 3 seconds shy of the bronze. That 12-second window from 2nd to 4th made for genuinely gripping racing in the warm morning air, with Bratek and Fitzpatrick running virtually stride-for-stride at 7:26 and 7:27 per mile respectively.

The chase pack kept the pressure on through 5th and 6th, with Jessica Arcuri (23:23, 7:32/mi) and Kelly Lewis (23:27, 7:33/mi) finishing within 4 seconds of each other. Heather Stover came home 7th in 23:46, and the field spread out from there — Lisa Penree going 8th in 24:55 before the times stretched into the 25s and 26s. All told, 259 women finished the F35-39 race, but on this sweltering July morning in Utica, the story began and ended with Allen's dominant wire-to-wire effort.