F20-24: Karsen Barley Closes Hard to Claim the Shamrock Marathon Title

• Barley wins in 3:08:55 (7:12/mi), the fastest in the F20-24 field of 107, surging from 10th among women at mile 25.2 to 9th by the finish with the 3rd-fastest women's closing split.
• Payton Weiner's comeback run earns 2nd place — she entered the final stretch 13th among women and posted the 2nd-fastest women's closing split to finish in 3:10:27, just 1:32 behind Barley.
• Molly Robinson led early, sitting 6th among women through 10K with the 6th-fastest women's split on that opening leg, but faded to 18th among women by the finish — still holding 3rd in the age group at 3:14:14.
• Ann Adele Byars was the day's great climber, moving from 45th among women at the start to 19th by the finish, with the 9th-fastest women's split on the 35K-to-25.2M stretch powering her to 4th in 3:14:38.

Virginia Beach handed the F20-24 field a tough afternoon — 71°F, 73% humidity, and a 17 mph wind off the coast. Against that backdrop, Karsen Barley of Virginia Beach ran a composed 7:12-per-mile effort and saved her best for last. She tracked steadily between 9th and 16th among women through most of the race before her closing surge brought her home in 3:08:55, clear of the field by a minute and a half.

The most dramatic story of the race unfolded just behind her. Payton Weiner of Haddonfield, NJ was 36th among women at the 5K mark — seemingly out of contention — and spent the next 25 miles methodically picking off runners. By the time she hit mile 25.2 she was 13th among women, and then she unleashed the 2nd-fastest women's closing split in the entire race to finish 2nd in the age group at 3:10:27. It was a race run almost perfectly in reverse.

Molly Robinson and Ann Adele Byars, both from Charlottesville-area Virginia, rounded out the podium. Robinson's strength came early — she was 6th among women through 10K — but the conditions took their toll and she settled into 3rd at 3:14:14. Byars told the opposite story, starting conservatively and grinding forward all day to finish 4th in 3:14:38, just 24 seconds off the podium.

Emma Semones rounded out the top five in 3:16:31, while Kennedy Vishneowski, Sarah Leach, and Kyra Treutlein clustered between 3:19 and 3:21 to fill out a competitive top eight in a field of 107 finishers.