Broken Arrow 5 Mile: Parsons Dominates the F60-69 Field at Tahoe Altitude

• Kathleen Parsons, 68, won the F60-69 race in 1:36:33 — nearly 19 minutes clear of second place.
• Melaine Whitchelo finished 2nd in 1:55:27, averaging 23:05/mi across the high-elevation course.
• Jan Nishikawa completed the course in 3:30:48 — more than double Parsons' finishing time, but a finisher nonetheless on a demanding mountain layout.

Three women lined up for the F60-69 race at Broken Arrow's 5 Mile course, threading through terrain that sits between 6,220 and 7,191 feet above sea level — air thin enough to make every climb feel a little longer than it looks on paper. Kathleen Parsons, 68, from Ramona, California, made it look manageable. She crossed in 1:36:33 at a 19:19/mi average, a pace that held up impressively across a course where the elevation alone can unravel a race plan.

The gap between first and second was substantial but not runaway — Melaine Whitchelo, 62, of Davenport, Iowa, came in at 1:55:27, nearly 19 minutes behind Parsons but well clear of the rest of the field. At 23:05/mi, Whitchelo navigated the same exposed ridgeline and gusty 17 mph wind conditions to claim a solid second.

Jan Nishikawa, 65, from Gold River, California, brought it home in 3:30:48 — a finishing time that reflects just how unforgiving this course can be. The gap to Whitchelo was wide, but Nishikawa's completion of a 5-mile mountain race at high altitude, in windy and dry conditions, is its own statement. All three women finished, and in a field this small and this demanding, that matters.