SF Marathon F60-64: Patricia Hammond Runs It Down

• Patricia Hammond, 60, wins in 4:00:14 (9:10/mi), the only F60-64 finisher to break four hours — by just 14 seconds.
• Sylvia Steinke-Graefe takes 2nd in 4:12:16, climbing from well back in the women's field (439th at the first checkpoint) to finish 305th — a steady, relentless move forward across 26.2 miles.
• Line Lavergne (3rd, 4:18:03) and Angelica Jaquez (4th, 4:21:17) were separated by just 3:14, with Lavergne posting the 291st-fastest women's split on the 18-to-24-mile stretch — faster than Jaquez's 326th-fastest on the same segment.
• 23 women finished in F60-64, spread across a range from 4:00 to over six hours, on a warm, humid San Francisco morning.

Patricia Hammond came to the line at 4:00:14 — a 9:10/mi average that held up across all 26.2 miles on a course that winds through the city at 69°F and 73% humidity. Her gender place told an interesting story: she was as high as 177th among women at one point, dipped to 224th in the middle miles, and clawed back to 203rd by the finish, sealing the win with the 168th-fastest women's split on the final 24-miles-to-finish stretch. That closing kick made the difference.

Sylvia Steinke-Graefe, also 60, was the race's great mover in this group. Starting near the back of the women's field at 439th, she ran progressively, ticking forward checkpoint by checkpoint, and finished 305th among women in 4:12:16 — a 9:37/mi effort that earned her a clear 2nd place. Behind her, Line Lavergne of Trois-Rivières ran a measured early race before turning it on between miles 18 and 24, logging the 291st-fastest women's split on that segment to hold off Angelica Jaquez of Redondo Beach, who ran the 326th-fastest split on the same stretch. Lavergne crossed in 4:18:03; Jaquez in 4:21:17.

Susan Jasinski rounded out the top five in 4:27:01 (10:11/mi), climbing from 779th among women at the opening checkpoint all the way to 469th by the finish — the most dramatic upward move in the group. Cathy Targett, at 64 the oldest finisher named in the results, came home 11th in 5:04:04, and Hoi King Lui, also 64, was right behind in 13th at 5:09:05 — just 10 seconds after Margarita Cheveleva's 5:08:55 in 12th.