SAN FRANCISCO—Brooke Starn, 28, starting from her high school days at Monte Vista High School in Danville, she was a former Harvard and University of California at Davis runner, where she received top 10 program marks in track-and-field.
She was the winner of the women’s division at the 2022 San Francisco Marathon in her debut as a marathon runner. She broke the 2:40 barrier at the Berlin Marathon in 2024 and Chicago Marathon in 2025.
On Sunday, March 29, 2026, she qualified for the United States Olympic Trials when she completed the McKirdy MicrOTQ or Micro Olympic Trial Qualifier, which is a flat 2.94-mile looped circuit and paved path course around Rockland Lake State Park in Valley Cottage, New York.
McKirdy MicrOTQ is a high-performance marathon, created by James McKirdy of McKirdy Trained on flat, fast and precisely measured loop courses to maximize the chances of running a personal best. It is for runners who wish to qualify for the United States Olympics Trials Qualifying (OTQ) standards.
For about three miles, every runner is offered a hydration station. A blue line is painted to show the shortest distance, so runners do not go over on turns. Highly experienced pacers are offered assigned goal times like OTQ cutoffs with current times for men being 2:16:00 and women’s 2:37:00. The course is certified by World Athletics and sanctioned by United States America Track and Field (USATF), making times valid for qualification of the Olympics Trials and national records.
Starn’s qualifying time was 2:35:44, a personal best for her. She is now scheduled to compete in the United States Olympic Marathon Trials February 2028.
Amidst training as an elite marathoner, she is in her first year of pediatric residency from graduating New York University Medical School in 2025.
