Two Cities Half Marathon F60-64: Deborah Coate Pulls Clear in a Local Showdown

• Deborah Coate wins in 1:55:36 (8:49/mi), the only finisher in the F60-64 group to crack two hours.
• Theresa Stofan takes 2nd in 2:01:42 — a 6:06 gap back, but she posted the 93rd-fastest women's split on the 10K-to-Finish stretch, gaining seven places among the women in that closing half.
• Tight mid-pack battle: 4th through 8th place — Kelly Irwin (2:18:00) through Rozine Bedoyan (2:20:08) — separated by just 2:08 across five finishers.
• A Fresno-area sweep: 22 of the 25 finishers hail from Fresno, Clovis, or nearby — a genuinely local group racing on home roads.

Deborah Coate of Madera took the F60-64 title in convincing fashion, finishing in 1:55:36 at an 8:49/mi clip — a pace that put clear daylight between her and the rest of the age group from early on. She moved from 58th to 56th among all women on the closing 10K-to-Finish segment, posting the 57th-fastest women's split on that stretch and holding her form to the line.

Theresa Stofan of Fresno was the runner-up in 2:01:42, crossing at 9:17/mi. The gap to Coate was a substantial 6:06, but Stofan had a strong closing segment — her 91st-fastest women's split on 10K-to-Finish came with a surge from 100th to 93rd among the women, suggesting she finished with more in the tank than she started with.

Third through fifth place told a different story. The anonymous 3rd-place finisher (2:16:08) was a full 14:26 behind Stofan but ran a strong closing leg, climbing from 252nd to 199th among the women on the back half. Meanwhile, Kelly Irwin (4th, 2:18:00) and Tamara Jones (5th, 2:18:19) both faded on the closing stretch — Irwin dropped from 189th to 217th among the women, Jones from 198th to 222nd — making the anonymous finisher's surge all the more notable.

From Isabel Schlotterback (6th, 2:19:38) through Rozine Bedoyan (8th, 2:20:08), just 26 seconds covered three finishers, with Sarah Oliver (7th, 2:19:44) slotting neatly between them. Brenda Niles (10th, 2:27:39), Cyndy Tokubo (11th, 2:28:44), and Jeri Rose (12th, 2:32:00) kept the mid-pack competitive deep into the standings, while Sheila Lynch rounded out the individually listed finishers in 20th at 3:17:03.