NB30-39 Women: Laidlaw Holds Off Tellwright in an Auburn Showdown

• Dylan Laidlaw won the NB30-39 race in 3:24:57 (14:20/mi), closing with the 3rd-fastest women's split on the High Camp→Finish stretch to seal the result.
• Sunny Tellwright finished 2nd in 3:27:54 — just 2 minutes 57 seconds back — and posted the 2nd-fastest women's split on Siberia→High Camp.
• Calvin Deutschbein claimed 3rd in 3:32:10, backed by the 2nd-fastest women's split on KT 22→Siberia — the strongest middle-race leg in the group.
• Poppy Bullard rounded out the four-woman field in 4:17:46, the only finisher from outside California, representing London.

Dylan Laidlaw and Sunny Tellwright — both from Auburn, CA — made this a two-woman race from the start. Laidlaw entered the final segment holding 5th among women and turned it into something more, posting the 3rd-fastest women's split on the High Camp→Finish leg to move back to 4th among women at the line and take the NB30-39 win by under three minutes. At nearly 7,500 feet of typical elevation across this course, that closing kick is no small thing — though Laidlaw, based in Auburn, may well be no stranger to mountain air.

Tellwright shadowed her training-ground rival throughout. She was the stronger climber mid-race, recording the 2nd-fastest women's split on the Siberia→High Camp segment, and she moved from 7th to 6th among women through that stretch. But she couldn't match Laidlaw's finishing surge, and the gap at the line — 2:57 — tells the story of a race decided in those final miles.

Deutschbein was the quiet force in the middle of the course. Her 2nd-fastest women's split on KT 22→Siberia was the most explosive single-segment performance in this group, and she held 4th among women for much of the race before fading to 7th at the finish. She crossed in 3:32:10, 7:13 behind Laidlaw — a reminder that a brilliant middle leg alone can't always hold off a strong closer.

Poppy Bullard, making the trip from London, finished in 4:17:46 — 52:49 behind the winner — but contributed the 8th-fastest women's split on Olympic Valley East→Snow King to close her day.