Two Cities Half Marathon F60-64: Susan Bonds Runs Down the Win

• Susan Bonds, 1:57:44 (8:59/mi) — takes the F60-64 title, the only finisher in the age group to break two hours.
• Laura Gross, 2:00:52 — runner-up by 3:08, closing the second half with the 116th-fastest women's split on the 10K-to-finish segment.
• Kellie Marshall, 2:12:00 — 3rd place, posting the 208th-fastest women's split on the 1M-to-10K stretch and finishing nearly 12 minutes clear of 4th.
• Cathy Buckert (2:42:31) and Rhonda Hamil (2:42:44) — separated by just 13 seconds at the line for 6th and 7th.

Susan Bonds ran the kind of race that rewards patience. She entered the women's field at 76th through the first mile, slipped back to 115th at the 10K mark — likely navigating early congestion or settling into her rhythm — then drove home to 87th among all women by the finish line. That closing surge, backed by the 74th-fastest women's split from 10K to the finish, was the decisive move of the F60-64 race. At 8:59/mi across 13.1 miles in 74°F heat, it was a composed, well-executed effort that earned her the age-group title with room to spare.

Laura Gross ran a similar arc — 93rd among women at mile one, drifting to 129th at 10K, then rallying to 116th by the tape. Her 2:00:52 finish at 9:13/mi made for a genuine race for the top spot: the gap of 3:08 between first and second is real, but Gross's ability to close — posting the 116th-fastest women's closing split — shows she was moving in the right direction when it mattered.

Kellie Marshall rounded out the podium in 2:12:00 (10:04/mi), actually moving up among the women's field from 255th at mile one to 213th at 10K — a steady, measured effort that put nearly 12 minutes of daylight between herself and 4th-place Sue Kounechongprasert (2:21:05). Rozine Bedoyan was the age group's biggest mover in relative terms, climbing from 429th among women at mile one all the way to 317th by the finish (2:23:28).

The back half of the field told its own story. Buckert and Hamil staged the tightest battle of the day, separated by just 13 seconds across 13.1 miles — 6th and 7th in 2:42:31 and 2:42:44 respectively. Brenda Niles (2:44:23, 8th), Elaine Walker Thweatt (2:49:38, 9th), Elaine Cheney (3:28:06, 10th), and Laura Nola (3:42:30, 11th) completed an 11-woman F60-64 field that covered the full spectrum of the half marathon experience on a warm Fresno morning.