Chicago 13.1 Half Marathon: Tracie Hunter Wins F45-49 on a Perfect June Morning

• Tracie Hunter (Whitestown, IN) took the F45-49 title in 1:32:07 — a 7:02/mi average — finishing 54th among all women.
• The gap from 1st to 2nd was 56 seconds; from 2nd to 3rd stretched to 2:06, making the podium order decisive early.
• Kiarri Kershaw (Chicago, IL) posted the 65th-fastest women's split on the 15K-to-finish stretch, the strongest closing leg among the top three.
• 374 women finished in F45-49, with the top 20 all coming in under 8:16.

With clear skies, 60°F, and a light 10 mph breeze off the lakefront, conditions were about as cooperative as Chicago ever offers in June. Tracie Hunter made full use of them. Running a controlled 7:02/mi average, she was positioned 43rd among all women at the 5K mark and barely moved from that perch — a sign of a race executed with precision rather than drama. Her 44th-fastest women's split on the 5K-to-8K segment helped her maintain the gap she needed, and she crossed in 1:32:07 to claim the F45-49 title.

Megan Leahy (Wilmette, IL) was the closest challenger, finishing in 1:33:03 — a 7:06/mi effort that put her 62nd among women at the line. Her strongest segment came between 8K and 10K, where she posted the 46th-fastest women's split in the field. She held 2nd in F45-49 comfortably, but the 56-second margin to Hunter was never seriously threatened in the back half.

Third place went to Kiarri Kershaw, the local Chicago runner who ran a notably different race from the front two. She was 97th among women at the 5K before steadily climbing — 86th, 87th, 82nd — and ultimately finishing 78th among women in 1:35:09. Her 65th-fastest women's split from 15K to the finish was the best closing kick of the podium, suggesting she had more in reserve than the others. Agnieszka Burkevic (Norridge, IL) rounded out the top four in 1:36:57, while Natalie Brown completed the top five in 1:38:49 — both running steady, unfussy races in a deep and competitive F45-49 field.