Two Cities Marathon F40-44: Parkinson Dominates, Deep Field Tests the Flat Course

• Shannon Parkinson (3:26:10, 7:52/mi) won the F40-44 group by more than 12 minutes, posting the 9th-fastest women's split on the opening 1M→10K stretch.
• Nicole Browne closed in 3:38:52 for 2nd, running the 20th-fastest women's split on the 19.8M→23M segment — a strong late surge that secured her runner-up spot.
• Gayle Pellizzer (3:53:18) and Patricia Cruz (3:59:30) rounded out the podium, separated by just over 6 minutes, with Pellizzer also posting the 27th-fastest women's split on that same late stretch.
• 19 finishers completed the F40-44 field, spanning from Parkinson's 3:26:10 to Adena Soleno's 6:51:12 — a range that captures the full breadth of this age group.

Shannon Parkinson, 43, from Kingsburg, ran a commanding race from start to finish. Her 7:52/mi average on Two Cities' flat, point-to-point course was a clear class above the rest of the F40-44 field, and her 9th-fastest women's split on the opening 1M→10K segment signaled early intent. Her gender place did drift from 7th to 14th as the miles accumulated, but within F40-44 she was untouchable, winning by 12 minutes and 42 seconds over Nicole Browne.

Browne, 44, out of Glendale, told a different kind of story — a patient, progressive race that came alive in the final stretch. She moved from 39th among women at the first checkpoint all the way up to 21st by the finish, and her 20th-fastest women's split on the 19.8M→23M segment shows she was reeling people in while others faded. Gayle Pellizzer, 42, of Clovis, ran a similar late-race pattern, posting the 27th-fastest women's split on that same segment to hold off Patricia Cruz, 42 (Fresno), who crossed in 3:59:30. Nicole Taylor, 44, rounded out the top five in 4:02:17 — she had run the 31st-fastest women's split in the opening stretch but couldn't quite sustain it to the line.

Behind the top five, a tight cluster of finishers from 6th through 8th — Angelica Reyes-Waters (4:20:58), Alisha Dube (4:21:55), and Gail Kamine (4:23:52) — were separated by fewer than three minutes across three spots. The back of the field showed real grit too: Chabre Basile and Chiamee Vang both finished within 19 seconds of each other around the 4:59 mark, and Adena Soleno closed out the group in 6:51:12 on a course that, flat as it is, demands something from everyone who toes the line.