Two Cities Half Marathon F45-49: Zamudio Runs Away With It

• Jolene Zamudio (Clovis, 48) won the F45-49 age group in 1:38:49 (7:32/mi), finishing 12th among all women.
• Three seconds separated 2nd and 3rd: Nidia Ramirez crossed in 1:41:41, Alejandra Baglietto in 1:42:08 — a 27-second gap back to Ramirez, but only 27 seconds for Baglietto to close.
• Places 15–17 finished within two seconds of each other: Anissa Montalvo and June Aceves both at 2:07:17, Sarah Bell at 2:07:19.
• Joy Judd (5th, 1:53:02) and Shoua Mouavangsou (6th, 1:53:05) were separated by just three seconds after 13.1 miles.

Jolene Zamudio set the tone from the gun. Running 7:32/mi through Fresno, the 48-year-old from Clovis entered the women's field at 15th place, climbed to 12th by the 10K mark, and held that position all the way to the finish — a controlled, confident run that put nearly three minutes of daylight between her and second place. Her closing half (10K to finish) ranked 15th among all women, confirming she didn't just go out hard and hang on.

Behind her, Nidia Ramirez (45, Fresno) and Alejandra Baglietto (45, Visalia) ran a tight battle for the podium. Ramirez was the steadier mover, advancing from 21st among women to 18th by the finish at 7:45/mi. Baglietto was the bigger story on the back half — she entered the 10K checkpoint 28th among women and surged all the way to 19th by the line, matching Ramirez's women's position at the finish despite starting that stretch nine spots behind her. The result: Baglietto in 1:42:08, just 27 seconds back of Ramirez, with Ramirez holding on for 2nd in 1:41:41.

Sheri Eggebraaten (47, Fresno) ran one of the more dramatic arcs in the age group. She was 46th among women through the opening mile but posted the 24th-fastest women's split on the 1M-to-10K stretch, climbing all the way to 24th among women — a charge that earned her 4th in the age group at 1:44:12 (7:57/mi). Then came the tightest battle of the day: Joy Judd (1:53:02) and Shoua Mouavangsou (1:53:05) raced each other across the Central Valley for 5th and 6th, with Judd — who had climbed from 90th among women at mile one all the way to 50th — edging Mouavangsou by three seconds. In a 73-finisher age group that stretched from 1:38 to well past 2:12, the F45-49 field delivered battles at every level of the leaderboard.