Elite Women at CIM 2024: Hauger-Thackery holds wire to wire in a 2:24 showdown

• Calli Hauger-Thackery won the elite women's race in 2:24:27 (5:31/mi), leading from start to finish and posting the fastest women's split on the 5K–10K segment.
• Jacqueline Gaughan pushed her all the way, finishing 2nd in 2:24:39 — just 12 seconds back — after recording the fastest women's split on the 25K–30K stretch.
• Stephanie Bruce, 40, claimed 3rd in 2:28:41, running the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 30K–35K leg to hold off a competitive mid-pack.
• Annie Heffernan was the biggest mover in the top ten, climbing from 10th at the 5K mark all the way to 5th by the finish in 2:30:25.

Calli Hauger-Thackery of Flagstaff never surrendered the lead across any checkpoint, but this was no easy procession. She clocked the fastest women's split through the early 5K–10K stretch and sat at the front through every split marker, absorbing whatever pressure came her way. At 5:31/mi for 26.2 miles, she ran a race that demanded respect from the first mile to the last.

The closest threat came from Boston's Jacqueline Gaughan, who briefly dipped to 3rd at the 10K mark before reasserting herself into 2nd. Gaughan's strongest moment came at the 25K–30K segment, where she posted the fastest women's split of anyone in the field on that stretch — a clear sign she was building, not fading. In the end, 12 seconds separated the top two across 26.2 miles, a margin that flatters neither and insults no one.

Stephanie Bruce turned in arguably the most compelling subplot of the race. The 40-year-old Flagstaff native ran steady and strong, logging the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 30K–35K leg — the moment in a marathon when many runners are simply surviving — to finish a clear 3rd in 2:28:41. Just behind her, Annmarie Tuxbury (4th, 2:30:03) had the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 10K–15K segment, while Heffernan's relentless forward march from 10th to 5th gave the elite women's race a compelling back-half narrative to match the front-running drama up top.