Napa Valley Half Marathon F70-74: Fitzsimmons edges Thornton in a razor-thin battle at the front

• Karen Fitzsimmons (Fort Pierce, 70) won the F70-74 race in 2:20:06 at a 10:41/mi pace, holding off Rondi Thornton by just 19 seconds.
• Rondi Thornton (Albuquerque, 71) finished 2nd in 2:20:25 — a 10:43/mi effort that left almost no daylight at the line.
• Ilene Weitz (Pacific Palisades, 71) claimed 3rd in 2:26:57, running 11:13/mi and finishing nearly seven minutes clear of 4th.
• Seven women finished the F70-74 race across a spread of just under 53 minutes, from Fitzsimmons' 2:20:06 to Marion Labella's 3:12:57 in 7th.

The F70-74 story at the 2022 Napa Valley Half Marathon was written in the first half of the race — and then defended, inch by inch, to the finish. Karen Fitzsimmons and Rondi Thornton ran the opening 6.9 miles in remarkably close order, with Fitzsimmons holding a slim advantage. On the back half of the course, both women ran nearly identical closing splits — Fitzsimmons posting the 695th-fastest women's split on that stretch, Thornton the 694th — meaning Thornton was fractionally quicker to the line over that second segment. But the gap Fitzsimmons had built earlier proved just enough: she crossed in 2:20:06, with Thornton's 2:20:25 arriving 19 seconds later. It was a genuine catch-up that fell just short.

Ilene Weitz, also 71, ran a composed 11:13/mi pace to take 3rd in 2:26:57, and she actually gained ground on the back half — her gender place ticking up from 780th to 774th on the closing segment, the 771st-fastest women's split in that stretch. Behind her, 73-year-old Taeko Ehn (Cloverdale) finished 4th in 2:31:18 and also moved up in the women's field over the second half, climbing from 840th to 826th. Kerry Collins, also 73, made the most visible surge of the group in the final stretch, jumping from 954th to 901st among women to finish 5th in 2:39:48.

Rama Srinivasan (Oakland, 71) finished 6th in 2:53:37 at 13:15/mi, and Marion Labella (Independence, 71) rounded out the seven-woman field in 3:12:57 — a 14:43/mi effort on a cold, humid Napa morning. All seven finishers deserve credit for toeing the line at 37°F and seeing it through.