Shamrock 8K: Kathleen Doswell Wins the F75-79 Crown

• Doswell takes it wire-to-wire in 53:00 — a 10:40/mi pace that put nearly two minutes between her and runner-up Betsey O'Neill (55:00).
• O'Neill held 2nd comfortably, finishing more than eight minutes clear of 3rd-place Ellen Glynn (1:03:22, 12:45/mi).
• Tightest battle of the day: Norma Stumpp (1:13:44) and Karen Jacobs (1:14:05) were separated by just 21 seconds for 4th and 5th.
• 16 women aged 75–79 finished the 8K on a mild but humid Virginia Beach morning — a formidable group by any measure.

Kathleen Doswell of Columbia, VA, ran the F75-79 race exactly as a winner should: controlled and consistent. Her 10:40/mi average held firm across every checkpoint, and no one came close to challenging her. The two-minute gap she put on O'Neill by the finish line was earned from the opening mile and never surrendered.

Betsey O'Neill of Virginia Beach made a clean run of her own, posting 11:04/mi to secure 2nd with plenty of daylight ahead of Ellen Glynn. Glynn, also a Virginia Beach local, crossed in 1:03:22 — more than eight minutes back but well clear of the chasing pack, rounding out a podium where each position was decided decisively rather than by drama.

The real tension in this race lived in the battle for 4th. Norma Stumpp of Phoenix, MD, and Karen Jacobs of Virginia Beach — both running around a 14:50/mi clip — were locked in a tight duel that resolved by just 21 seconds at the line. Stumpp edged it, 1:13:44 to Jacobs' 1:14:05.

Behind them, six more women — Judi Robertson through Jean Rollins — finished within a 10-minute window between 1:19:58 and 1:29:08, making the middle of the field genuinely competitive. Rhonda Campbell closed out the field in 1:46:07, completing all 16 finishers on a warm, breezy morning that made every minute earned.