F25-29 at CIM 2024: Erin McDonald Runs Down the Field in the Final Miles

• Erin McDonald wins F25-29 in 2:36:46 (5:59/mi), the only finisher in the age group to break 2:37, and posted the 6th-fastest women's split from 40K to the finish.
• Teagan Robertson (2:37:45) and Madey Dickson (2:38:41) rounded out the podium, with just under two minutes separating all three.
• The top five finished within 3:10 of each other, with Izzi Gengaro (5th, 2:39:56) closing fastest of the group after 40K — 9th-fastest women's split on that final stretch.
• Kathryn Gearhart and Ariel Keklak both clocked 2:49:44 for 14th and 15th — separated by a timing sliver, not a clock digit.

Erin McDonald didn't lead from the front — she hunted. Running in 38th among women at the first checkpoint, she was still 38th at 10K, then began a methodical climb: 36th, 28th, 22nd, and finally 18th among women by the finish. In F25-29 terms, that late-race surge was decisive. Her 5:59/mi average and the 6th-fastest women's split from 40K to the line tell the story of a runner who saved something real for the back half and used it.

Teagan Robertson (Kingston, ON) ran a controlled race of her own, moving from 46th to 25th among women overall and flashing the 14th-fastest women's split between 30K and 35K — a mid-race acceleration that helped her lock up 2nd in F25-29 with a 2:37:45. Madey Dickson (Herriman, UT) was similarly progressive, climbing from 40th to 27th among women and producing the 15th-fastest women's split from 35K to 40K on her way to 3rd in 2:38:41. Both runners were moving the right direction when it counted.

Molly Colwell (4th, 2:39:25) and Izzi Gengaro (5th, 2:39:56) kept the pressure on through the final segment, with Gengaro's 9th-fastest women's split from 40K to the finish nearly enough to overtake Colwell — but a 31-second gap at that point proved just enough cushion. Further back, the battle around 10th through 12th was a genuine scrap: Erica Ruiz Murillo (2:48:30) and Lisa Zieman (2:48:31) were separated by a single second, with Andrea Condie (2:48:53) just 23 seconds further back. In a field of 574, that kind of density in the middle of the pack is its own kind of racing.