F55-59 Half Marathon: Hitchings Runs Away With It in Napa

• Jenny Hitchings, 59, wins in 1:21:38 — a 6:14/mi average that put her 9th among all women at the finish.
• 18-minute gap to second: Deanna Rossini's 1:39:35 (7:36/mi) was a commanding runner-up, but the race for the win was never close.
• Fastest closing kick: Hitchings posted the 9th-fastest women's split on the 6.9M–Finish stretch, moving from 11th to 9th among all women in the back half.
• Late surge by Janet Kahl: Running 5th in F55-59, Kahl climbed from 196th to 153rd among women on that same closing segment — the biggest positional move in the group.

On a crisp 41°F morning in Napa, Jenny Hitchings of Sacramento turned the F55-59 field into a one-woman show. Her 1:21:38 — 6:14 per mile at age 59 — wasn't just a win; it was a statement. She moved from 11th to 9th among all women on the back half of the course, posting the 9th-fastest women's split on the 6.9M-to-finish stretch. In a field of 111, the gap between Hitchings and everyone else was simply enormous.

Deanna Rossini of Penngrove took second in 1:39:35, running 7:36/mi and finishing 79th among all women. That's a solid performance in its own right, but it came nearly 18 minutes after Hitchings had crossed the line. Joan Wu of Albany rounded out the podium in 1:44:42 (7:59/mi), though her closing segment was a touch slower — she slipped from 107th to 113th among women on the back half, giving up a few spots late.

The battle for 4th and 5th was tighter. Ping Chen of Cupertino finished in 1:46:34, followed by Janet Kahl of Charlotte in 1:47:57 — a 1:23 gap between them. Both were strong closers: Chen moved from 147th to 130th among women on the final stretch, and Kahl was even more aggressive, surging from 196th all the way to 153rd. Maiya Huffman (1:49:10), Yan Li (1:50:54), and a cluster of Saratoga runners — Meijuan Chen (1:51:24), Qingping Bian (1:51:34), and Xiaoling Qian (1:52:07) — filled out the top ten in a tight 3-minute window from 6th through 11th place. At the back of the top 20, Jm Fairburn and Susan Wortzman both clocked 1:57:31, with Fairburn edging the placing by the finest of margins.