Women's Marathon
In the women's marathon championship, four-time Olympian Colleen De Reuck was the overwhelming pre-race favorite but had company early in the race from Paulson, Nicole Blaesser (Seattle, Wash.) and local favorites Kristin Nicolini and Michelle Frey.
At halfway, De Reuck had an 18 second lead on Paulson and by 20 miles, with her lead growing to 40 seconds, De Reuck looked to be on her way to a both the open and masters women's crown.
As Paulson rallied, she managed to catch De Reuck and made her move to the lead at 24 miles, steadily pulling away to a 48 second win. De Reuck's 2:32:37 second-place performance was also good for the women's masters title and a pending American record for the 45- 49 age-group.
Nicolini managed to hold on for third, running 2:35:06 in her debut at the distance. Also in her debut, Blaesser took fourth in 2:35:09 as Sally Meyerhoff (Eugene, Ore.) rounded out the top-five in 2:35:49.
The women's marathon featured $72,500 in prize money with Paulson taking home $25,000 for the win.
Masters Marathon
Susannah Beck (Brunswick, ME) finished as second masters woman behind De Reuck in 2:43:18 and Mary Coordt (Elk Grove, Calif.) was third in 2:45:00.
The USA Masters Marathon Championships paid over $50,000 in prize money with the overall men's and women's masters champions earning $7,500 each.
Olympic Trials qualifying begins
The women's marathon championships was also be the first and only day in 2009 for women to qualify for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials with 29 women running 2:46:00 or better.
