Boilermaker 5K F60-64: Mary Kaye Edges a Razor-Thin Podium in Utica's Heat

• Winner: Mary Kaye, 63, New Hartford — 28:19 at 9:07/mi, topping a field of 90 in the F60-64 race
• Six seconds: The margin separating Kaye from runner-up Beth Talbot (28:25) — and just 21 seconds covered the entire top three
• Tight podium: Donna Conley rounded out the top three in 28:40 (9:14/mi), with Elizabeth Korrie 4th in 29:04
• Deep field: Ten women broke 30:10, a testament to the competitive depth across the 90-woman F60-64 field on a humid July morning

With 75°F temperatures and 90% humidity blanketing Utica, Mary Kaye of New Hartford delivered the sharpest performance in the F60-64 race, crossing in 28:19 at a 9:07/mi clip. At 63, she held off a determined Beth Talbot — just two years her junior out of Oriskany Falls — by a mere six seconds. That kind of margin over 3.1 miles means there was no coasting; Kaye had to earn every step of it.

Donna Conley, racing on home turf in Utica, claimed third in 28:40, making the podium a tight 21-second window across three athletes. Elizabeth Korrie (29:04, 4th) and Anne Fanelli (29:25, 5th) kept the pressure honest further back, with Fanelli arriving from Lee Center to round out a top five that was separated by just over a minute total.

The race's depth didn't stop at five. Sandra Fischer (29:41, 6th), Rosemary Reed (29:47, 7th), Marie Wlock (29:54, 8th), Sandra Popovich (30:02, 9th), and Jennifer Van Auken (30:09, 10th) all finished within two minutes of the winner — ten women under 30:10 in conditions that made every second harder to find. Mary Juedes stretched the top tier to 11 with a 30:47 effort, before the field spread out through the remaining 79 finishers. On a muggy Sunday in Utica, the F60-64 race delivered one of the tightest top-end battles of the morning.