F20-24: Paige Moore Edges Out a Front-Running Battle to Win Long Beach

• Paige Moore wins in 2:55:13 (6:41/mi), posting the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 5.5M–13.1M stretch and trading the lead throughout before sealing it in the final miles.
• Hope Stark runs the 4th-fastest women's split from 13.1M to 20M, clocking a 2:58:10 (6:48/mi) to finish 2nd — nearly three minutes back of Moore but a full 6:25 clear of 3rd.
• Brooke Decker's late charge is the race's biggest mover, surging from 37th among women at the first checkpoint all the way to 8th by the finish, logging the 4th-fastest women's split in the final 20M–to-finish stretch en route to a 3:07:35.
• 192 women finished in F20-24, with the top five spanning just under 16 minutes and a 25-minute gap separating 5th from 6th.

The F20-24 race was a genuine contest at the front, with Paige Moore of Rancho Palos Verdes and Hope Stark of Colorado Springs swapping positions throughout the first half. Moore held 2nd among women through the opening segment, moved to 1st, slipped back to 2nd, then reclaimed the lead for good. Her 6:41/mi average — and a blazing middle stretch from mile 5.5 to the half — ultimately proved decisive. Stark, meanwhile, was doing her own climbing: starting 10th among women, she worked her way to 7th, then 4th, and finished 3rd overall among women with a 2:58:10. The gap between them at the line was just under three minutes — earned through Moore's stronger second half.

Keely Berger of Santa Monica closed well, posting the 5th-fastest women's split over the final 20-mile-to-finish stretch to finish 3rd in F20-24 at 3:04:35 (7:02/mi). Right behind her, Brooke Decker told the most dramatic positional story of the race. The 20-year-old from Los Gatos was 37th among women at mile 5.5 and was still 15th at mile 20 — then unleashed the 4th-fastest women's closing split to vault to 8th overall among women and 4th in F20-24 at 3:07:35. That's a finish earned the hard way.

Camilla Eskelinen of Long Beach — racing on home roads — rounded out the top five in 3:11:08, having run the 10th-fastest women's split on the 5.5M–13.1M segment. Behind her, the field spread out considerably: Ella Nyholm (6th, 3:20:28) and Iliana Treyger (7th, 3:23:01) led a mid-pack that stretched through Jaelynn Cid (8th, 3:23:23), Anna Bartkoski (9th, 3:26:03), and Olivia Comini (10th, 3:29:25). In warm, humid Long Beach conditions — 72°F with 73% humidity — every minute past mile 20 was hard-won.