Long Beach Marathon F65-69: Norton-Motulsky Leads Los Angeles Sweep

• Lisa Norton-Motulsky won the F65-69 race in 4:41:40 (10:45/mi), finishing with the 418th-fastest women's split on the 20M→Finish stretch.
• Kyoo Sik Shin took 2nd in 4:48:36 (11:00/mi) — just under seven minutes back — while Kang Sook Kim claimed 3rd in 5:56:02 (13:35/mi).
• All four finishers hail from the Los Angeles area, with Olegaria Gamboa of Long Beach rounding out the field in 7:42:48 (17:39/mi).
• The gap from 1st to 4th spans over three hours across a four-woman field.

Four women toed the line in the F65-69 race on a warm Long Beach morning — 72°F, clear skies, and 73% humidity making the full 26.2 miles a genuine test of endurance. Lisa Norton-Motulsky, 69, of Los Angeles, took command and never let go, crossing in 4:41:40 at a 10:45/mi clip. Her gender place tells an interesting story: she moved through the women's field across the race, climbing from 632nd to 516th by the finish — a steady, progressive move through the pack. She sealed it with the 418th-fastest women's split on the final stretch from mile 20 to the finish line, a strong close when many runners are fading.

Kyoo Sik Shin, also 69 and also from Los Angeles, ran the early miles well — entering the 5.5M→13.1M segment ranked 478th among women — but gradually ceded ground in the women's field as the race wore on, finishing 573rd among women by the tape. Her 4:48:36 (11:00/mi) was good enough for a clear 2nd place, six minutes and 56 seconds behind Norton-Motulsky. Kang Sook Kim, 66, ran a notably different race — moving steadily up through the women's field from 1,119th to 1,054th and finishing 3rd in 5:56:02 at 13:35/mi, more than an hour behind Shin.

Olegaria Gamboa, 69, of Long Beach, completed the marathon in 7:42:48 at 17:39/mi to claim 4th. She, too, made quiet progress through the women's field between miles 13.1 and 20, posting the 996th-fastest women's split on that segment. Finishing a marathon at any pace is no small thing — and in a four-woman F65-69 field averaging nearly six decades of life experience, every finisher earned their medal on a warm October day in Long Beach.