F80+ at the Shamrock'n 10K: Crick edges Hall in an 80-plus battle worth celebrating

• Karen Crick, 80, wins the F80+ age group in 1:37:30 — a 15:42/mile average across the full 10K.
• Linda Hall, 82, finishes 2nd in 1:40:08 — just 2 minutes 38 seconds back, running a 16:07/mile pace.
• Both women gained ground in the women's field over the second half, each moving up more than a dozen places from the 5K to the finish.

There were only two finishers in the F80+ age group on Saturday morning in West Sacramento, but don't let the small field fool you — this was a genuine race between two women who showed up, toed the line, and covered 6.2 miles in cool, clear conditions to earn every second of their times.

Karen Crick, 80, of Granite Bay took the win in 1:37:30, holding a 15:42-per-mile average from start to finish. What's notable isn't just the finishing time — it's the second half. Crick moved from 875th to 863rd among women over the back half of the course, picking off runners in the closing 5K with the 833rd-fastest women's split on that segment. She didn't fade; she finished.

Linda Hall, 82, of Davis was right behind her. At 2 minutes and 38 seconds back, Hall crossed in 1:40:08 at a 16:07-per-mile clip — and she, too, was moving in the right direction late in the race, climbing from 895th to 881st among women over that same stretch with the 836th-fastest women's split on the 5K-to-finish segment. At 82, Hall was the oldest finisher in the age group and ran every step of it.

Two runners, two towns, one clean March morning — and a finish line that both of them reached. That's the whole story, and it's a good one.