Boston Marathon F65-69: Nina Caron Claims the Age Group Crown at the 129th

• Nina Caron won the F65-69 age group in 3:22:01 (7:42/mi), edging Gwen Jacobson's 3:22:54 by 53 seconds in a tight battle at the front.
• Margie Ritchie and Leslie Cohen finished 3rd and 4th in 3:30:27 and 3:31:29, with Sally Reiley just 13 seconds further back in 5th at 3:31:42 — three women separated by barely over a minute.
• A cluster of four runners — Carrie Bieda (6th, 3:37:55) through Sydney Tervort (9th, 3:38:48) — finished within 53 seconds of each other, making for a fiercely competitive mid-pack.
• 222 women completed Boston's point-to-point Hopkinton-to-Copley Square course in the F65-69 age group, in near-ideal conditions: 50°F, light wind, and low humidity.

Nina Caron of Massachusetts ran a controlled and ultimately decisive race to win the F65-69 age group in 3:22:01, averaging 7:42 per mile across 26.2 miles. Her gender place tracking tells a nuanced story: she slipped back slightly through the middle miles — moving from 2,641st among women at the first checkpoint to 2,791st — before reeling positions back in over the final stretch to finish 2,596th among women. Gwen Jacobson of Minnesota gave chase the entire way, crossing in 3:22:54, but the 53-second gap was already established and never closed. Jacobson actually ran the 23M–24M segment as her 2,509th-fastest split among women, suggesting she was still working hard late — but Caron had done enough.

Behind the top two, the race for the podium and beyond was a genuine contest. Margie Ritchie of Alberta made one of the more dramatic moves in the age group, climbing from 5,437th among women at the first checkpoint all the way to 3,865th by the penultimate split — a sustained surge through the course's most demanding terrain — before finishing 3rd in 3:30:27. Leslie Cohen (4th, 3:31:29) and Sally Reiley (5th, 3:31:42) ran remarkably similar races to Ritchie's finishing time, with Reiley's best segment — the 21M–35K stretch — ranking 3,070th among women, evidence she was still pressing hard through the Newton hills and beyond. Those three women were separated by just 75 seconds at the line.

Further back, the race remained competitive well into the top ten. Carrie Bieda (6th, 3:37:55), Louise Burke (7th, 3:38:13), Kathy Manning (8th, 3:38:44), and Sydney Tervort (9th, 3:38:48) formed a tight cluster, all finishing within 53 seconds of each other despite running independently across 26.2 miles. Donna Grocki rounded out the top ten in 3:40:01, with the top 20 stretching to Andrea Hudson Baldwin's 3:51:25 — a spread that reflects just how deep and competitive this age group ran on Patriots' Day.