Fort Ord 25K Women's 30–39: Purcell Dominates, Ryan Storms Home

• Anna Purcell won the F30-39 age group in 2:06:03 (8:07/mi), posting the fastest women's split on the Skyline→Toro Creek segment to seal a commanding victory.
• Briana Ryan charged from 17th among women at the first checkpoint to 7th by the finish — the biggest move in the age group — and backed it up with the 6th-fastest women's split on the Toro Creek→Finish leg.
• Elizabeth Pargin and Jordan Last both crossed in 3:14:42, separated only by the timing system's finest measurement — Pargin edged 5th, Last 6th.
• The age group spanned a wide range of finish times, from Purcell's 2:06:03 to Kailey Bennett's 6:10:20 — a 4-hour, 4-minute spread across 19 finishers.

Anna Purcell, 33, from Santa Cruz, was in a class of her own on the trails of Fort Ord. She opened the race moving up quickly among the women's field, climbing from 2nd to 1st by the first checkpoint and never relinquishing that spot. The decisive moment came on the Skyline→Toro Creek stretch, where she posted the fastest women's split of anyone in the field — a move that turned a lead into a statement. Her 8:07/mi average over 25K on technical trail terrain is a number worth sitting with.

Behind her, Briana Ryan, 36, of Monterey, ran the race in reverse order of what her early position suggested. She was 17th among women through the opening segment, 13th by Toro Creek, and 7th at the line — a relentless back-half charge fueled by the 6th-fastest women's split on the closing Toro Creek→Finish leg. Her 2:47:27 gives her 2nd in the age group, and it wasn't a gift — she ran for every second of it.

Franny Valour (3rd, 2:56:58) and Sidney Bastura (4th, 3:02:34) rounded out the top four, though both faded through the back half after stronger early positions. Valour slipped from 7th to 14th among women on the Skyline→Toro Creek segment, while Bastura held a steady — if difficult — position throughout. The 5th-and-6th photo at 3:14:42 between Pargin and Last added a last moment of drama before the field spread out across the afternoon on the Fort Ord trails.