F65-69 at CIM 2024: Bergenske Runs Away with It

• Lanore Bergenske won the F65-69 group in 3:37:14 (8:17/mi), nearly 10 minutes clear of runner-up Laura Kennedy (3:46:55).
• Kennedy and Burke separated by just 4:41, with Carol Sexton another 39 seconds back — a tight three-way battle for 2nd through 4th across the final miles.
• Bergenske's late-race surge was real: her gender place jumped from 1,105th at 25K all the way to 966th by the finish, gaining ground on the broader women's field when it mattered most.
• Louise Burke made the trip from Melbourne, Australia, and Carol Sexton from Woodinville, WA — the F65-69 podium drew runners from four states and two countries.

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Lanore Bergenske of Fortuna, CA, was simply in a different race. Her 8:17/mi average held up through Sacramento's mild December conditions — 59°F with a light 3 mph breeze — and she crossed in 3:37:14, a margin that was never really in doubt. What makes her run even more impressive is where she found her best gear: from 40K to the finish she posted the 740th-fastest women's split in the entire women's field, moving from 1,105th among women at 25K up to 966th at the line. She was accelerating while others faded.

Behind her, Laura Kennedy (3:46:55) ran a composed race through halfway, sitting comfortably in the group, but her gender place tells a different story after 25K — she slipped from 1,071st to 1,223rd in the women's field over the final stretch, suggesting the back half took its toll. Louise Burke of Melbourne held her own early, logging one of the stronger 5K–10K splits in the group, but gradually ceded ground through the second half, finishing 3rd in 3:51:36. Carol Sexton (3:52:15) was just 39 seconds further back in 4th — close enough that the bronze medal battle was live deep into the race.

The rest of the 32-woman F65-69 field spread across a wide range, from Cindy Egger's 4:10:26 in 5th to a dozen more finishers beyond the top 20. Five finishers clustered within a 51-second window around the 4:30 mark — Sinthy Kounlasa, Gladys Northcross, Susan Colborn, and Kathy Linenberger all finishing between 4:30:00 and 4:30:51 — making that stretch of the results one of the most competitive patches of the entire age group.