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It didn’t take long for Calgary’s Maria Zambrano to make her mark in a new age category.

Just two days after her 55th birthday, Zambrano ran 2:49:47 at the 2025 Chicago Marathon, setting a new Canadian masters record in the women’s 55-59 age group and winning her division by five minutes.

Zambrano was the 112th woman across the finish line on Sunday, shattering the previous masters national record of 2:58:46, set by Allison Blackmore at the 2023 Tokyo Marathon, by nine minutes.

Maria Zambrano at the 2022 Servus Calgary Marathon. Photo: RunCalgary

The Alberta distance runner now holds Canadian records in both the women’s 50-54 and 55-59 divisions.

Her personal best of 2:44:37 from the 2024 Houston Marathon still stands as the national 50-54 record.

In a 2022 interview, Zambrano told Canadian Running that her motivation to keep running competitively into her 50s is to inspire other women her age.

“I think there’s no secret,” she said. “It’s just doing the training, being consistent and wanting to do it.”

The start of the 2024 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Photo: Kevin Morris

Zambrano’s time in Chicago was only four minutes and 20 seconds shy of the world marathon record for the women’s 55–59 category (2:45:27).

She finished well ahead of Ireland’s Margaret McMahon, who placed second in the W55-59 category and set an Irish national record of 2:55:12.

Zambrano wasn’t the only Canadian age-group winner in Chicago; Ottawa’s Joel Koffman won the men’s 75-79 age group with a time of 4:10:36. For a look at the top Canadians from the race,