F75-79 Half Marathon: Gladstone runs away from the field

• Georgiana Gladstone, 76, won the F75-79 group in 2:47:12 (12:45/mi), finishing more than 42 minutes clear of runner-up Holly Smith.
• Smith and Mcwilliams staged the race's closest battle, separated by just 26 seconds at the line — 3:29:47 to 3:30:13 — for 2nd and 3rd in the age group.
• Gladstone was the only finisher under three hours in the six-woman field, and her strongest segment came between 15K and 20K, where she posted the 2,241st-fastest split among all women in the race.
• All six women finished on a warm, windy Virginia Beach morning — 71°F, 17 mph winds, and 73% humidity made for a demanding day at any age.

Georgiana Gladstone made this race her own from the start. Tracking her movement through the women's field tells the story clearly: she climbed steadily from 2,457th among women at the 5K mark all the way to 2,324th by 20K, a consistent forward march through a large field. She gave back a handful of spots in the closing miles — sliding to 2,328th at the finish — but by then the outcome in the F75-79 group was never in doubt. Her 12:45-per-mile average, held across 13.1 miles in difficult conditions, was the defining performance of the day here.

Behind her, Holly Smith (77, Liberty, MO) and Suzanne Mcwilliams (75, Richmond, VA) ran nearly identical races to the line. Smith crossed in 3:29:47, Mcwilliams in 3:30:13 — 26 seconds the margin after more than three and a half hours of racing. Mcwilliams actually showed her best running late, posting a strong closing split between 20K and the finish, while Smith's most competitive segment came in the 10K-to-15K stretch. Two different strategies, nearly the same clock.

Nancy Tillery (75, Kill Devil Hills, NC) took 4th in 3:34:04, followed by Kathleen Haines (75, Newport News, VA) in 3:44:40, and Irene Russell (78, Vass, NC) rounding out the group in 3:58:55. That Russell, at 78 the oldest finisher in the group, covered 13.1 miles in under four hours on a hot, blustery afternoon is worth noting on its own terms.