Masters Women at CIM 2025: Leopold Leads Wire-to-Wire in Folsom-to-Sacramento Showdown

• Elizabeth Leopold won the Masters Women race in 4:53:48 (11:12/mi), never relinquishing first place across all six checkpoints.
• Mai Nakamoto and Audrua Sysum both finished in 5:00:56 — separated by a sliver of a second, with Nakamoto edging into 2nd and Sysum 3rd by the finest of margins.
• Sysum posted the fastest Masters Women split on the 5K→10K segment; Nakamoto was right on her heels with the 2nd-fastest split on that same stretch.
• Leopold answered with the fastest Masters Women split on the 10K→15K leg, making clear she was racing — not just leading.

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Cold, damp, and overcast on race day in the Sacramento Valley — 46°F with heavy humidity — and Elizabeth Leopold of Folsom looked right at home. She held first place from the opening checkpoint to the finish line, never once ceding the lead across all six tracked splits. Her 4:53:48 at an 11:12-per-mile clip was the benchmark the rest of the field spent 26.2 miles chasing.

The most compelling subplot unfolded behind her. Audrua Sysum (age 40, Antioch) came out swinging, posting the fastest Masters Women split in the 5K-to-10K corridor — only for Mai Nakamoto (age 50, Elk Grove) to shadow her with the 2nd-fastest split on that very same stretch. Sysum held 2nd through the halfway point, but Nakamoto surged between 25K and 30K to briefly move into the runner-up spot before Sysum reclaimed it. When the dust settled, both women stopped the clock at exactly 5:00:56 — Nakamoto finishing 2nd and Sysum 3rd, separated by a margin invisible to the naked eye.

Kieu Chu (age 54, Galt) ran her own race from the back of the field, steady at every checkpoint and never out of 4th. She wasn't without her moments — her 25K-to-30K split was the 2nd-fastest among the Masters Women on that segment — and she crossed in 5:29:36 at a 12:34-per-mile pace to round out a four-woman field that made every mile of the Folsom-to-Sacramento course count.