Two Cities Half Marathon F65-69: Scheuer Leads Wire to Wire

• Deborah Scheuer won the F65-69 age group in 2:07:47 (9:45/mi), climbing from 217th to 177th among all women on the back half.
• Barbara Simons was the runner-up in 2:14:35 — a 6:48 gap back — running a stronger 10K-to-finish than Scheuer's closing split.
• Isabel Schlotterback held 3rd in 2:33:58, while Rachel Ross (4th, 2:39:45) and Joyce Dendo (5th, 2:42:40) both closed well, each posting top-470 women's splits on the final stretch.
• Eleven women finished the F65-69 group across a 1:37:54 span from first to last, with Georgia Davis (age 69) completing the course in 3:45:41.

Deborah Scheuer, 66, from Gainesville, FL, came to Fresno and made herself at home at the front of the F65-69 field. Running a steady 9:45/mi, she moved up 40 spots among women in the second half alone — from 217th at the early checkpoint to 177th by the finish line — and posted the 162nd-fastest women's closing split in the field. That kind of progressive strength on a warm November morning in Fresno (74°F at the gun) is no small thing.

Barbara Simons, a local from Clovis, gave chase and finished 2nd in 2:14:35. She actually ran a sharper closing leg than Scheuer — her women's split rank improved from 277th to 243rd — but the gap Scheuer had built earlier proved decisive. Simons crossed 6:48 behind the winner, a comfortable margin in the standings but a reminder that the race was never truly in doubt once Scheuer found her rhythm.

Third through fifth played out as a genuine sub-battle. Isabel Schlotterback (Fresno, 2:33:58) held 3rd throughout, but Rachel Ross (2:39:45) and Joyce Dendo (2:42:40) were both moving through the women's field late, each cracking the top-470 women's closing splits. Ross finished 5:47 behind Schlotterback; Dendo was just 2:55 further back in 5th.

Behind them, Mayra Mendez (6th, 2:58:05), Nancy Hess (7th, 3:08:45), Denie Albert (8th, 3:12:46), Theresa-Hanh Dang (9th, 3:28:20), Sheila Lynch (10th, 3:37:47), and Georgia Davis (11th, 3:45:41) all completed the 13.1 miles — a full field of 11 women aged 65 to 69 finishing a half marathon in the Central Valley heat.