Masters Female: Stravers Dominates, Hitchings Turns Back the Clock

• Kelly Stravers won the Masters Female field in 1:25:52 (6:33/mi), more than two minutes clear of the runner-up.
• Jenny Hitchings, 63, claimed 2nd in 1:27:59 — her closing mile-10-to-finish split ranked 21st among all women in the race.
• Emily Sheffield and Jennifer Lashua finished 11th and 12th separated by just 0.31 seconds, both clocking 1:32:36.
• Lauren Mulkey Williams was the field's biggest mover, climbing from 41st to 32nd among women across the race's three segments.

On a cool, overcast Sacramento morning — ideal conditions for fast times across the Urban Cow Half Marathon's flat, river-hugging course — Kelly Stravers ran away from a deep Masters Female field of 663. Her 6:33/mi average was a full ten seconds per mile faster than anyone else in the top five, and she finished in 1:25:52. Stravers steadily tightened her grip on the women's overall standings as the race progressed, moving from 20th among all women at the first checkpoint to 18th by the finish.

The more remarkable story may be Jenny Hitchings. At 63, Hitchings ran 1:27:59 — a 6:43/mi effort — to take 2nd in the Masters field, and she did it with a strong finish: her Mile 10-to-finish split ranked 21st among all women in the race. Minji Wong (46) backed her up in 3rd at 1:28:43, and Alyson Barrett (47) and Lauren Mulkey Williams (41) rounded out the top five in 1:29:18 and 1:29:26, respectively. Barrett's strongest segment came early — a 27th-fastest women's split from 5K to Mile 6.55 — while Mulkey Williams did her best work in the middle miles, posting the same 27th-fastest split from Mile 6.55 to Mile 10 while climbing nine places in the women's standings.

The race's tightest moment came at 11th and 12th, where Emily Sheffield (43, Sacramento) and Jennifer Lashua (49, San Francisco) crossed the line in 1:32:36 — separated by just 0.31 seconds after 13.1 miles. Sheffield held 11th by that razor-thin margin. Behind them, the field stretched deep, with Jennifer Berlier rounding out the listed finishers in 20th at 1:38:12 — and 643 more Masters women behind her.