San Francisco Marathon 2024: Sara Bagnell Surges Late to Claim F25-29

• Sara Bagnell, 3:05:41 (7:05/mi) took the F25-29 win with the 5th-fastest women's split on the 14.95M→18M stretch, climbing from 18th among women at the opening checkpoint all the way to 6th by the finish.
• Podium spread was tight at the top: Liv Paxton finished 2nd in 3:06:45 and Olivia Polischeck 3rd in 3:07:44 — just over two minutes separating all three.
• Paxton's early move: she posted the 7th-fastest women's split on the 1.81M→6.52M segment, sitting 6th among women by mid-race before fading back to 8th — Bagnell and Polischeck both ran her down late.
• 409 finishers completed the F25-29 race on a cool, humid San Francisco morning (56°F, 92% humidity).

Sara Bagnell, 28, racing on home turf in San Francisco, didn't show her hand early. She was 18th among women through the first two checkpoints, patient and consistent at a 7:05/mi average. Then came the stretch from mile 14.95 to 18 — and Bagnell was flying, posting the 5th-fastest women's split across that segment. She moved from 13th to 6th among women in that window alone, and crossed in 3:05:41 to claim the top spot in F25-29.

Liv Paxton, 26, of Rock Hill, SC, ran a very different race. She was aggressive from the gun, posting the 7th-fastest women's split on the opening 1.81M→6.52M leg and sitting 6th among women by the halfway point. But the back half told another story — Paxton faded to 8th among women overall, finishing in 3:06:45 for 2nd in F25-29. Olivia Polischeck, 25, was the mirror image of Paxton: buried in 24th among women early, she ran the 4th-fastest women's split on that same 14.95M→18M segment that Bagnell owned, climbing all the way to 11th among women and 3rd in F25-29 at 3:07:44. The final podium was a story of two late chargers catching an early mover.

Allison Carr (3:15:07, 4th) and Lauren Miller (3:16:49, 5th) rounded out the top five, with Miller in particular showing strong late-race legs — the 10th-fastest women's split on the 14.95M→18M segment, climbing from 30th among women at the start to 19th at the finish. Klarissa Lou (3:19:27, 6th) and Emily Ford (3:19:33, 7th) were separated by just six seconds, with Anelli Baron (3:21:25) in 8th and Emily Crichlow (3:22:09) in 9th rounding out a deep top ten.