Santa Rosa 5K: Ann Lane Leads a Sharp F60-69 Podium

• Ann Lane wins in 27:39 (8:54/mi), claiming the F60-69 title by 29 seconds over runner-up Tatjana Omrcen.
• Tight podium: Omrcen (28:08) and Shelle Schiffbauer (28:28) are separated by just 20 seconds for 2nd and 3rd.
• Top-5 bunched, then a gap: Kari Jacobs (4th, 29:51) and Ramona Blount (5th, 30:07) finish within 16 seconds of each other, while 6th-place Kim Nguyen (32:50) trails by nearly 3 minutes.
• 39 women completed the F60-69 race on a mild Santa Rosa morning — 63°F, calm winds, and broken clouds.

Ann Lane, 64, from Marietta, GA, came to Santa Rosa and made her presence felt from the gun. Her 8:54/mi average was the class of the F60-69 field, and her 29-second winning margin over Tatjana Omrcen was comfortable without ever looking like a runaway. Omrcen, a local from nearby Cotati, ran a composed 9:03/mi to hold off 3rd-place Shelle Schiffbauer — a Santa Rosa hometown finisher — by 20 seconds at 28:28. Three women under 28:30 is a genuinely strong podium at any age.

The race's most competitive stretch was the battle for 4th and 5th. Kari Jacobs (Santa Rosa, 29:51 at 9:36/mi) and Ramona Blount (Sacramento, 30:07 at 9:42/mi) ran nearly the entire race in lockstep, separated at the finish by just 16 seconds. That pair pulled well clear of 6th-place Kim Nguyen, who crossed in 32:50 — a 2:43 gap that effectively closed out the front tier.

Further back, the field spread across a wide range of efforts. Tina Southard took 7th in 35:08, Victoria Macedonio 8th in 36:02, and Cynthia White 9th in 36:11 — those three covered by less than a minute. At 16th, Judy Prejean, 69, was the oldest finisher in the named group and completed the course in 41:08, a result worth noting on its own terms. All 39 women who toed the line in the F60-69 race finished, filling out a field that ranged from sub-28-minute racing to well over 40 minutes of determined effort.