Non-Binary 18K: Rohm-Ensing leads wire to wire at Palisades Tahoe

• Ella Rohm-Ensing won the non-binary field in 2:30:19 (13:26/mi), holding 1st from start to finish and posting the fastest non-binary split on the Snow King→KT 22 segment.
• Aurélia Taleb-Ahmed held 2nd the entire way, finishing in 2:39:12 — 8:53 back — with the 2nd-fastest non-binary split on Snow King→KT 22.
• Hannah Macleod was the race's biggest mover, climbing from 4th to 3rd by the third checkpoint and sealing it with the 2nd-fastest non-binary split on the Siberia→Finish leg.
• Lace Zhong and Sara Chacon rounded out the five-finisher field at 3:00:05 and 3:22:43, respectively.

Ella Rohm-Ensing never let the lead slip. From the opening checkpoint to the finish line on this high-elevation course — ranging up to 8,046 feet above Palisades Tahoe — the San Francisco 28-year-old ran a composed, consistent race at 13:26 per mile, arriving nearly nine minutes clear of second place. Her strongest segment came on the Snow King→KT 22 stretch, where she posted the fastest split among the non-binary finishers, a sign that the middle of this course suited her particularly well.

Aurélia Taleb-Ahmed was equally locked in, running the same positional race from a different vantage point. The Los Angeles 34-year-old held 2nd at every checkpoint and finished there, her 2nd-fastest Snow King→KT 22 split confirming she was Rohm-Ensing's closest rival on that critical segment. The 8:53 gap between them tells the real story — this wasn't a race that tightened late.

The most dynamic subplot belonged to Hannah Macleod. The 24-year-old San Franciscan sat 4th through the early checkpoints before working her way up to 3rd, a move she secured on the Siberia→Finish leg where she posted the 2nd-fastest closing split in the field. In a race where nearly everyone else held their position from gun to tape, Macleod was the one athlete who actually changed the order — and she did it on the hardest part of the course to make up ground.