F35-39 Half Marathon: Greenwood takes Napa in a wire-to-wire display

• Heidi Greenwood wins in 1:21:47 (6:14/mi), holding 10th among all women from the first checkpoint to the finish — the steadiest of front-runners.
• Carolyn Menard (2nd, 1:22:37) and Theresa Mccabe (3rd, 1:23:32) complete the podium, with Mccabe posting the 12th-fastest women's second-half split to climb from 20th to 16th among all women.
• Mccabe's late surge vs. Menard's fade: Menard slipped from 12th to 13th among women on the back half, while Mccabe moved the opposite direction — yet Menard still held 2nd by 55 seconds, a comfortable cushion that Mccabe's finishing kick couldn't fully close.
• 193 women finished in F35-39, with the top 20 all breaking 1:39.

Under cool, calm conditions in Napa — 41°F and barely a breath of wind — Heidi Greenwood ran a composed, controlled race from Fargo. Sitting 10th among all women at the 6.9-mile checkpoint, she didn't surge late or fade; she simply held her line at 6:14/mi and crossed in 1:21:47. It's worth noting that Greenwood came to Napa with unfinished business: she ran 1:20:59 here in 2022 to finish 8th among women, and this year she returned to win F35-39 outright — 48 seconds slower on the clock but a far better result in the standings.

Carolyn Menard (Sacramento, 1:22:37) was the closest challenger, running 6:18/mi to finish 50 seconds back in 2nd. Behind her, Theresa Mccabe (Manhasset, 1:23:32) was the story of the back half — posting the 12th-fastest women's split from 6.9 miles to the finish, moving from 20th to 16th among all women, and narrowing the gap to Menard considerably. She ultimately settled for 3rd in 1:23:32, but the trajectory was pointing the right direction.

Fourth place went to Elysha Omoomy (Sausalito, 1:26:27, 6:36/mi), who also moved forward in the second half, climbing from 23rd to 22nd among women. Gwenaelle Begue (Sacramento, 1:28:31, 6:45/mi) rounded out the top five, gaining four spots among women over the final miles. The gap from 5th to 6th — Kristi Spitzmueller (Minneapolis, 1:29:13) — was just 42 seconds, and the entire top ten were separated by only 11 minutes, making F35-39 one of the tightest and deepest fields on the course.