F50-54 at California International Marathon: Nakamoto holds off Chu in a two-woman showdown

• Mai Nakamoto won the F50-54 age group in 5:00:56 (11:29/mi), finishing just under the five-hour mark.
• Kieu Chu crossed in 5:29:36 (12:34/mi), a gap of 28 minutes 40 seconds back.
• Nakamoto posted the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 5K–10K segment in the entire women's field — the strongest individual split of the two.
• Chu answered with the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 25K–30K segment, showing she had her own moment of brilliance mid-race.

With only two finishers in the F50-54 age group on a cool, overcast December morning in Sacramento, this was an intimate but genuinely competitive race within a race. Mai Nakamoto, 50, from Elk Grove, set the tone early — her 5K–10K split ranked 2nd among all women in the field, a sign she came out with purpose and wasn't simply managing the miles.

Nakamoto held a consistent position among the women throughout, tracking 3rd for much of the race before briefly climbing to 2nd around the midpoint, then settling back to 3rd at the finish. That kind of steady presence in the broader women's field speaks to the quality of her effort. She crossed in 5:00:56 — threading the needle just inside five hours at an 11:29-per-mile clip.

Kieu Chu, 54, from Galt, ran her own race with admirable composure. She held 4th among the women from start to finish, never wavering from that position across every checkpoint. Her highlight came between 25K and 30K, where she put up the 2nd-fastest women's split on that segment — a real surge in the back half of the race that showed she wasn't just surviving the distance. She finished in 5:29:36, nearly 29 minutes behind Nakamoto but with a performance that had its own sharp edges.

Two women, two strong efforts, one age group settled. Nakamoto takes the F50-54 title at CIM 2025.