Boston Marathon F60-64: Heather Knight Pech Leads a Deep Age Group at Hopkinton

• Heather Knight Pech (CT) won the F60-64 age group in 3:10:37 (7:16/mi), the fastest of 527 finishers in the group.
• Cindy Conant (MD) ran the strongest second half in the top five, posting the 799th-fastest women's Half→25K split to climb from well back and finish 2nd in 3:13:55 — 3:18 behind the winner.
• Gwen Jacobson (MN) held on for 3rd in 3:18:44, while Linda Eng (ON) and Susan Mayo (ID) were separated by just 38 seconds in 4th (3:21:09) and 5th (3:21:47).
• The top 20 spanned just 24 minutes, from Pech's 3:10:37 down to Dianne Laheta's 3:34:38.

On a cool, drizzly Patriots' Day — 49°F with a steady 10 mph wind and 90% humidity on the point-to-point course from Hopkinton to Copley Square — Heather Knight Pech put together a controlled, relentless effort to take the F60-64 title. Running 7:16 per mile across 26.2 miles, she moved steadily through the women's field from the gun, and her 3:10:37 left no doubt at the finish line.

Cindy Conant's race told a different story. She arrived at the half in a much deeper position in the women's field but turned in the 799th-fastest women's Half→25K split to surge through the back half of the course, ultimately claiming 2nd in 3:13:55. It was a classic negative-split grind through the Newton Hills — exactly the kind of patience Boston rewards.

Gwen Jacobson rounded out the podium in 3:18:44, running 7:35 per mile for 3rd. Behind her, Linda Eng (3:21:09) and Susan Mayo (3:21:47) ran nearly the full race together — Mayo actually posted a stronger 40K→finish split, but Eng held enough of a cushion built earlier to keep 4th by 38 seconds. The rest of the top ten — Denise Iannizzotto (6th, 3:23:12) through Elena Shemyakina (10th, 3:26:01) — were packed within three minutes of each other, a testament to how competitive the F60-64 field of 527 was on this World Marathon Major stage.