Shamrock 8K F25-29: Benedettini Runs Away from a 430-Woman Field

• Anna Benedettini won the F25-29 age group in 27:34 — a 5:33/mi pace that also made her the fastest woman in the entire women's field from start to finish.
• Her 2M→4M split was the fastest among all women — the moment she put the race firmly out of reach.
• Lora Ontl ran 7th among women overall to claim 2nd in F25-29, finishing in 32:55 — more than five minutes back but well clear of 3rd.
• Places 18–20 were separated by just two seconds: Riley Lambert, Cassandra Young, and Sarah Becker all crossed in 41:24–41:26.

Anna Benedettini made this one look straightforward, but straightforward at 5:33 per mile is something else entirely. The 26-year-old from Kailua, Hawaii held 1st among women from the opening checkpoint through the finish line — no drama in the standings, just a methodical dismantling of the field. Her middle segment, the 2M-to-4M stretch, was the fastest women's split in the race, which tells you exactly when any lingering doubt evaporated.

Lora Ontl of Norfolk, Virginia had a clean, consistent race of her own — 7th among women at every checkpoint, never wavering, finishing in 32:55 at 6:37 per mile. That kind of steady execution earned her a comfortable 2nd-place finish in the age group, with Kristine Shaughnessy (35:11) and Samantha DeCapua (35:44) rounding out the podium. The gap from 1st to 2nd was over five minutes; from 2nd to 3rd, another two-plus — the top of the F25-29 field was spread out in clear tiers.

The back of the top 20 told a different story. At 41:24, both Riley Lambert and Cassandra Young share the same displayed time, but the timing chips separated them into 18th and 19th. Sarah Becker was just two seconds behind in 20th. In a 430-woman age group run on a mild March morning along Virginia Beach — 62°F, a light breeze off the coast — those margins are razor-thin, and every one of those athletes had reason to check the results twice.