Jenny Hitchings reclaims her W55+ world record at London Marathon
The 59-year-old from Sacramento, Calif., finished the 2023 London Marathon in a mind-blowing time of 2:45:27
Photo by:
@jennyhitchings/Instagram
Two months before her 60th birthday, Jenny Hitchings of Sacramento, Calif., set a new women’s 55+ marathon world record at the 2023 London Marathon. She finished the race in a speedy two hours, 45 minutes and 27 seconds, breaking the official former age-group record by nearly three minutes.
Hitchings previously held the world record in the women’s 55 to 59, from 2019 to 2021, when she ran 2:50:36 at the 2019 New York City Marathon, breaking the long-standing world record of S. Rae Baymiller, who ran 2:52:15 at the Chicago Marathon in 1998. Hitchings’s record was broken at the 2022 London Marathon when Australia’s Krisha Stanton ran 2:48:06. Stanton, 56, did not compete in the 2023 race.
Hitchings seems to be getting faster with age–this was the fastest marathon time of her career. She was also the second American woman to cross the finish line.
In the lead-up to her London Marathon, Hitchings placed third at the USATF 10 Mile Masters Championships in her hometown of Sacramento, finishing seconds shy of her American W55+ masters record time (62:03).
She won the W55-59 age category at the London Marathon by 13 minutes and split 1:21:36 at the halfway mark for an average pace of 3:50/km. When you put her new record time through an age-grade calculator, it yields an age-graded time of 2:10:00 (four minutes under the world record!).
London Dispatch: @jennyhitchings ran a PR 2:45:27 at yesterday’s London Marathon, set 55-59 AG world record, 2nd American woman & 25th non-pro women’s level overall. @usatf @USAMastersTrack @runrabbit @KCRAdapper pic.twitter.com/pvHxbCYubk
— Andrew Hitchings (@ahitchings95818) April 24, 2023
On July 1, Hitchings will leave the 55-59 category and join the 60 to 64 age group–so we can likely look forward to seeing her break more age-group world records. According to her Instagram, Hitchings is a running coach for adults and high school students
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