SF Marathon 10K — F65-69: Warmsley Dominates in Under an Hour

• Denise Warmsley won the F65-69 race in 59:19 (9:33/mi) — more than four minutes clear of the field.
• John Ulrich took 2nd in 1:03:30, with Melinda Dorotheo rounding out the podium in 1:12:21.
• The gap from 1st to 15th spanned nearly 53 minutes across 15 finishers on the San Francisco streets.
• Kathleen Holmes (13th, 1:52:01) and Suzanne Janigian (14th, 1:52:03) finished just two seconds apart at the back of the field.

Denise Warmsley, 67, from El Sobrante, CA, was the class of the F65-69 field on a cool, humid Sunday morning in San Francisco. Her 59:19 finish — the only sub-hour effort in the group — came at a 9:33/mi clip and left a gap of 4:11 to second place. That kind of margin doesn't happen by accident on a course that winds through one of the hilliest cities in America.

John Ulrich of San Antonio crossed in 1:03:30 (10:13/mi) to claim 2nd, running a noticeably sharper pace than the rest of the field behind Warmsley. Melinda Dorotheo, 68, from Hayward, CA, secured 3rd in 1:12:21 — nearly nine minutes back of Ulrich — while Therese Hutchison (4th, 1:15:54) and Karen Strong (5th, 1:17:49) ran within about two minutes of each other through the middle of the pack.

The back half of the field stretched across a wide range of finishing times, from Joyce Warner-Manina's 6th-place 1:20:39 to Elizabeth Nilsson's 7th-place 1:24:24. Mariajesus Wagner (8th, 1:30:15), Ramona Kennon-Frink (9th, 1:34:48), and Vera Johnson (10th, 1:35:25) followed in close succession, with just 37 seconds separating 9th and 10th. Joann Florendo (11th, 1:42:43) and Stephanie Marshall (12th, 1:43:07) likewise finished within 24 seconds of each other.

The closest battle of the day, though, came at the very end: Kathleen Holmes, 69, from La Cañada Flintridge, CA, finished 13th in 1:52:01, with Suzanne Janigian of Glendale just two seconds behind in 14th at 1:52:03. Dorothy Dorotheo — the second Dorotheo in the field alongside 3rd-place finisher Melinda — closed out the 15-finisher group in 1:52:45, completing her 10K at 18:09/mi.