Fort Ord 25K Women's 60–69: Betsy Diaz Leads Wire to Wire

• Betsy Diaz won the F60-69 group in 2:55:36 (11:18/mi), finishing 13th among all women — a full 29:46 ahead of 2nd place.
• Maryann Eikens was the day's biggest mover, climbing from 64th to 34th among women across the race and posting the 20th-fastest women's split on the Toro Creek→Finish segment.
• The back of the field produced a remarkable photo: Marion Abaunza, Loreen Ozaki, and Andrea Smith finished 7th, 8th, and 9th within a 44-second window — Ozaki and Smith separated by just one second.
• Nine women aged 60–69 finished a demanding 25K trail course in damp, near-saturated conditions (91% humidity, 53°F).

Betsy Diaz, 60, from Carmel, was never seriously challenged. She held 14th among women through the first two checkpoints before nudging up to 13th by the finish — steady, controlled, and dominant within the F60-69 group from start to finish. Her 11:18/mi average across a technical Fort Ord trail course is a number that demands respect, and her 10th-fastest women's split on the Toro Creek→Finish segment confirmed she was still pressing hard at the end.

The race for second told a different story. Maryann Eikens, 67, from Missoula, was buried 64th among women early on but ran a patient, progressive race — moving to 49th by the middle segment and surging to 34th by the tape. Her 20th-fastest women's split on the closing Toro Creek→Finish leg was the engine of that charge, and it earned her a well-deserved runner-up finish in 3:25:22. Michelle Brown, 63, rounded out the podium in 4:06:49, posting the 61st-fastest women's split on the Skyline→Toro Creek segment to hold her position.

The final three finishers — Marion Abaunza, Loreen Ozaki, and Andrea Smith, all crossing between 5:53:40 and 5:54:24 — made the tail end of this field genuinely dramatic. Forty-four seconds covered all three, with Ozaki and Smith finishing back-to-back just one second apart after more than five and a half hours on course. Completing a 25K trail run at Fort Ord in those conditions, at any pace, is no small thing.