F45-49 at the SF Marathon: Curley Commands the City

• Melissa Curley wins in 3:29:26 (7:59/mi), the fastest F45-49 finish by nearly six minutes over runner-up Natalie Waite (3:35:05).
• Alicia Rider's comeback run — starting 308th among women and clawing all the way to 97th — is the most dramatic position swing in the F45-49 field, capped by the 36th-fastest women's split on the 20M→22M stretch.
• Shana O'Shea (3:38:47) held 3rd despite fading from 18th to 100th among women mid-race before recovering — a wild ride that still earned her the bronze.
• Alicia Rider also raced the Saturday 5K earlier in the weekend, finishing 7th among women — making her marathon charge all the more impressive as a multi-race effort.

Melissa Curley of Truckee, CA, was never seriously threatened in the F45-49 race. She opened with one of the sharpest early efforts in the women's field — posting the 21st-fastest women's split on the 2M→4M segment — and while she gradually worked back through the women's standings in the second half, she crossed in 3:29:26 at a 7:59/mi clip. That's a pace none of her F45-49 rivals could match, and her nearest competitor, Natalie Waite (3:35:05, 8:12/mi), finished nearly six minutes back.

The battle for third and fourth told a different story entirely. Shana O'Shea of Oakland entered the late miles as low as 100th among women before rallying to finish 3rd in 3:38:47 — her 26th-fastest women's split on the 4M→6M stretch hinting at an early burst she couldn't quite sustain. Alicia Rider of Winston-Salem, NC, ran nearly the opposite race: she was deep in the women's field past the halfway point but unleashed the 36th-fastest women's split on the 20M→22M segment to surge home in 3:40:09, just 1:22 behind O'Shea. That closing charge, combined with her 7th-place women's finish in the Saturday 5K earlier in the weekend, makes Rider one of the standout multi-race stories of the entire event.

Behind the podium, Candice Osborne (5th, 3:43:38), Judy Chock (6th, 3:46:34), and Renata Cedzidlo (7th, 3:49:49) rounded out a tight cluster before the field spread toward the 4-hour mark. Nine of the top 20 in F45-49 finished between 3:52 and 4:08, a testament to how competitive the 45-49 women's field was across 107 finishers on a breezy, 59°F day along the San Francisco waterfront.