Masters Women at CIM 2025: Sara Hall Runs Away With It

• Sara Hall wins in 2:24:35 (5:31/mi) — more than 11 minutes clear of 2nd place, the fastest Masters Women's finish of the day by a wide margin.
• Caitlin Phillips surges late: her 20th-fastest women's split on the 35K–40K segment powered her from 39th among women to 42nd — and secured 2nd in the Masters Women's field in 2:36:06.
• Courtney Dauwalter, the ultra-running icon, clocks 2:38:53 (6:04/mi) for 4th, consistent from wire to wire — her women's gender place barely moved across all five checkpoints.
• Seven seconds separate 7th and 8th: Emily Setlack (2:46:11) edges Teal Burrell (2:46:16) for 7th among Masters Women.

Sara Hall simply ran a different race than everyone else on Sunday morning in Sacramento. From the gun, the 42-year-old from Flagstaff was trading positions at the very front of the women's field — oscillating between 2nd and 3rd among all women through the checkpoints — before ultimately crossing in 2:24:35, a 5:31-per-mile clip that no other Masters woman came within eleven minutes of matching. Her 2nd-fastest women's split on the 20K-to-half segment showed she wasn't just surviving; she was racing. The win wasn't a grind — it was a statement.

Behind her, the battle for the podium had genuine drama. Caitlin Phillips of East Jewett, NY ran a shrewd, patient race — sitting outside the top 50 among women through much of the middle miles before uncorking the 20th-fastest women's split on the 35K–40K stretch to lock up 2nd in 2:36:06 (5:57/mi). Andrea Pomaranski of Wolverine Lake, MI came in 3rd at 2:37:44, having done her best work early — posting the 25th-fastest women's split on the opening 5K–10K segment — before fading through the back half of the race. The gap between 2nd and 3rd: just 98 seconds.

Courtney Dauwalter, whose legend is built on the longest, hardest ultras on earth, showed up at CIM and ran 26.2 miles at 6:04/mi for 4th place in 2:38:53. Her position among women barely flickered across all five checkpoints — a metronome in a race full of surgers and faders. Karen Bertasso (2:41:14, 5th) and Meriah Earle (2:42:30, 6th) rounded out the top six, with 47-year-old Earle's performance among the age highlights of the field. Across 1,166 finishers in the Masters Women's field, the depth was real — and the front of it was something special.