F50-59 Ascent: Price Conquers Tahoe's Thin Air in 41:19

• Shinobu Price (age 50, Tahoe City) won the F50-59 field in 41:19 — a full 1:10 ahead of runner-up Jennifer Joynt.
• Cheri Nielsen (age 51) gained five places among the women on the final Snow King→Finish segment, climbing from 109th to 104th — the most notable position move in the closing stretch.
• The gap from 1st to 9th was just over 10 minutes; the field then spread dramatically, with 16th-place Julia Hindman-Simpson finishing in 1:33:46 — 52:27 behind the winner.
• Sixteen women completed the F50-59 ascent across a course ranging from roughly 6,300 to nearly 8,000 feet — conditions that turn every uphill into a negotiation with the altitude.

Shinobu Price, racing on home terrain in Tahoe City, made the most of local familiarity. Her winning time of 41:19 — averaging 19:00 per mile up a mountain — set the standard for the day, and her 66th-fastest women's split on the Snow King→Finish segment confirmed she didn't just survive the final push, she ran it with purpose. Jennifer Joynt (age 54, Mammoth Lakes) was the closest challenger, crossing in 42:29, while Tanja Digrande (age 53, Orinda) rounded out the podium in 44:34 — leaving a comfortable 2:05 gap between second and third.

The real battle for position unfolded in the middle of the pack. Cheri Nielsen (age 51, Mill Valley) arrived at the Snow King checkpoint 109th among the women and worked her way to 104th by the finish — five places clawed back on the final segment. Just ahead of her at the line, Tizz Strachan (age 57, Hailey, ID) held 100th in the women's field from checkpoint to finish, crossing in 49:00 to Nielsen's 49:53. Ilyce Shugall, Karla Moore, Brigitta Hayer (who made the trip from Bad Dürrheim, Germany), and Sara Holm were separated by just 1:07 across positions 6 through 9 — a genuine mid-pack scrum.

Behind them, the field stretched out considerably. Jen Tramel and Bonnie Sauer crossed in the 57–58-minute range, followed by four more finishers spread across the final half-hour. Julia Hindman-Simpson closed out the F50-59 field in 1:33:46 — a reminder that on a high-altitude ascent with 17 mph winds and air this thin, simply finishing is a legitimate achievement.