Shamrock'n 5K: Nasseri rules the F70-74 field

• Mahnaz Nasseri won the F70-74 age group in 38:55 (12:32/mi), finishing more than 3 minutes ahead of second place.
• Closest battle of the day: Carol Kudow and Kathy Kato were separated by just 0.30 seconds — 49:41.56 to 49:41.86 — for 3rd and 4th.
• Mari Kral, Marilyn Chin, and Joyce Adams finished within 1.27 seconds of each other across 17th, 18th, and 19th place.
• 22 women in the F70-74 group toed the line on a cool, clear Sacramento morning — solid turnout for the age group.

Mahnaz Nasseri, 72, of Carmichael, made the F70-74 race look straightforward. Her 38:55 finish at a 12:32/mi clip put clear daylight between her and the rest of the field — Jean Orpin of Elk Grove crossed in 42:06, a gap of 3 minutes and 11 seconds. That margin told the story: Nasseri was simply in a different gear on the morning.

The most gripping moment of the age group came at the 3rd-place line, where Carol Kudow and Kathy Kato ran what amounted to a dead sprint to the finish — except the clock settled it definitively. Kudow's 49:41.56 edged Kato's 49:41.86 by three-tenths of a second. Both clocks display the same whole-minute time, but the timing chip doesn't lie: Kudow takes the bronze.

Further back, Catherine Bannerman and Chrys Larson staged their own tight duel, separated by just 4 seconds at 56:11 and 56:15 for 5th and 6th. Then, near the tail of the listed finishers, a three-way cluster formed around the 1:09:59 mark — Mari Kral crossed in 1:09:58, Marilyn Chin in 1:09:59.04, and Joyce Adams in 1:09:59.27. All three within less than two seconds after more than a mile of racing together.

For a group of 22 women ranging from 70 to 74 years old, the F70-74 field delivered some of the tightest finishes of the entire morning. From Nasseri's commanding wire-to-wire performance to the photo-finish battles scattered through the pack, this age group brought the drama.