Female Masters Half Marathon: Clayton Leads a Stacked Field Through the Cold

• Jenny Clayton won the Female Masters race in 1:32:22 (7:03/mi), finishing 10th among all women — the 10th-fastest women's split on the back half sealed it.
• Kathryn Dahir, 58, took 3rd in 1:36:19 — a remarkable 6:39 improvement over her 1:42:58 finish here in 2023, when she placed 9th among women.
• The top five were separated by just 8:54, with all five running sub-7:45 pace in 29°F temperatures and a 16 mph wind.
• Julie Vieselmeyer climbed from 12th to 11th among women on the back half, clocking the 14th-fastest women's split on that stretch to lock up 2nd in 1:33:57.

Twenty-nine degrees, a biting 16 mph wind, and 331 women lining up — the Female Masters field at the 2025 Rocket City Marathon Half didn't flinch. Jenny Clayton set the tone from the start, holding 10th among all women wire to wire and never wavering. Her 7:03/mi average in those conditions is a number that speaks for itself, and her 10th-fastest women's split on the 6.8M-to-finish stretch confirmed she was still pressing at the end.

Julie Vieselmeyer ran a smart second half, picking off one spot among the broader women's field on the back end and finishing in 1:33:57 — just 1:35 behind Clayton. That gap is real, but the 14th-fastest women's split on that final stretch shows Vieselmeyer was pushing hard all the way home. Behind her, Kathryn Dahir delivered the most compelling performance of the morning. The 58-year-old from Nashville crossed in 1:36:19 — nearly seven minutes faster than her 1:42:58 at this same race in 2023, when she finished 9th among women. She moved from 16th to 15th among women on the back half, posting the 16th-fastest women's split on that segment. That kind of improvement, at 58, in a headwind, is the story of the day.

Kelly Burt (4th, 1:39:03) and Jennifer Hom (5th, 1:41:16) rounded out a podium-adjacent top five that held a genuinely competitive pace through the cold. Mia Gentle in 6th (1:42:55) led the next wave, with Jessica Troyer, Angie Walker, Anne Harbarger, and Holli Salamone filling out the top ten — all breaking 1:48 in conditions that made every minute earned.