F80+ Boston Marathon: Sabourin Takes the Title in a Two-Woman Battle for the Ages

• Helen Sabourin (BC) won the F80+ group in 5:04:06 (11:36/mi), finishing 3:36 ahead of runner-up Hansi Rigney.
• Hansi Rigney (CA) crossed in 5:07:42 (11:44/mi), claiming 2nd place in the two-woman field.
• Both women were moving through a women's field of thousands deep into the race — Sabourin held her gender position around 10,544th by the finish, Rigney around 10,615th.
• On the late stretch from 40K to 25.2M, Rigney posted the 9,375th-fastest women's split in that segment; Sabourin's sharpest segment came on the 20M–21M stretch, where she logged the 9,519th-fastest women's split among all women.

Running 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Copley Square is a feat at any age. Doing it past 80, in 49°F drizzle with 10 mph winds and 90% humidity on one of the most demanding point-to-point courses in the world — that's something else entirely. Helen Sabourin and Hansi Rigney were the only two women in the F80+ group on the start line, and both of them finished.

Sabourin set the pace from the outset, running a steady 11:36/mi to claim the win in 5:04:06. Her gender placement told an interesting story: she moved from 11,215th among all women at the first checkpoint all the way up to 10,544th by the finish — a net gain of 671 places, meaning she was consistently reeling in runners across the Newton Hills and beyond. The 20M–21M stretch, which includes the infamous Heartbreak Hill, was a notable segment for her.

Rigney ran a slightly different race. She actually moved up in the women's field through the early miles — from 10,797th to 11,025th — suggesting a cautious start before she found her rhythm and climbed back to 10,615th by the finish. Her 11:44/mi average over 5:07:42 was 8 seconds per mile slower than Sabourin, and the 3:36 gap at the line reflected that consistent difference across the full distance.

On the 128th Patriots' Day, in one of the six World Marathon Majors, two women in their eighties ran the whole thing. The margin between them was 3:36. Both of them earned every step.