Sacramento Running News

Ramona Sanchez (center, white shirt, bib 320) and others line up for the start of the 2013 SBA 5K (Photo by Steve Barbour)

On Saturday morning, nearly 400 women lined up for the start of this year’s Susan B Anthony 5K in River Park.

Now on it’s 38th year, the Susan B. Anthony 5K, hosted by the Buffalo Chips Running Club, is the region’s longest-running women’s race.

Racing in picture-perfect weather (for August), Ramona Sanchez, 36, of Sparks, Nevada, dominated the field to win with a speedy 17:23 finishing time.

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You are probably by now aware that the Olympic Marathon trials were held in Houston this past Saturday.

During your long run this morning, you may have asked your running buddies something like, “I wonder how that woman from our club did? I think her name is Susan. Or maybe it’s Suzanne. I’m not quite sure but, you know, she’s has kind of brown hair and is kind of skinny? You know who I’m talking about?”

No. I don’t know, but I did look through the results and tried to pick out as many locals as I could find and collected their results here.

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Lloyd Levine

By Lloyd Levine, Special to the SRN

Quick! Name the second fastest (ever) female U.S. Marathon runner.  The answer will probably surprise you.

Recently, I wrote about Ryan Hall and the state of men’s marathon running in the United States.  Given that, it seems only fair to look at the status of women’s marathon running in the U.S. as well.  The women don’t have a Ryan Hall type figure (i.e. fast times but no wins) who draws praise, and scorn in equal measures, but the status of women’s marathon running in the U.S. is not much different from that of the men. There are a few women marathon runners who draw praise and generate excitement but, except for Deena Kastor, have little to show in the way of meaningful results or times. Additionally, like the men, there is really very little depth in the talent pool.

Most serious marathon runners in the United States probably know that Deena Kastor holds the American Record, but do you know who the second and third fastest are?  After analyzing the 1,875 (which is how many times the 2:30 mark has been broken) fastest women’s marathon times of all time it appears that the United States has only had two, legitimate, top-level marathon runners, Deena Kastor and Joan Benoit–who is still the second fastest U.S. woman of all time, despite having run her best time 1985. (Editor’s Note: The list, updated today, now includes 1,917 names but the analysis of the standing of the US women has not changed materially.)

Deena Kastor and Joan Benoit are the only U.S. women to have won major marathons, posted times competitive with the best in the world, and won Olympic medals.  Deena Kastor has a PR of 2:19:36, good for 11^th place on the all time list (and fifth on the all time list of women not named Paula Radcliffe). Deena won the bronze medal in the Athens Olympics, and has won London and Chicago (as well as many other top finishes).  Joan Benoit has a PR of 2:21:21, won the Olympic Gold medal, held the world record, and won numerous marathons.

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