F70-74 Half Marathon: Rondi Thornton Dominates in Napa

• Rondi Thornton won the F70-74 race in 2:28:10 (11:18/mi), finishing nearly 38 minutes ahead of runner-up Karen Castro.
• Marilyn Harknett, 74, claimed 3rd in 3:26:17 — the oldest finisher in the field and the last one to gain ground among the women in the final stretch.
• A tight 4-minute window separated 3rd through 5th: Harknett (3:26:17), Rama Srinivasan (3:30:28), and Brooke Sanders (3:39:07).
• Six women finished the Napa Valley Half Marathon in the F70-74 field on a crisp 41°F morning with light winds.

Rondi Thornton, 72, of Albuquerque, made this race look controlled from the first mile to the last. Her 11:18/mi average delivered a 2:28:10 finish that no one in the F70-74 field came close to matching. She was also one of the stronger women on the back half of the course, posting the 799th-fastest women's split from 6.9 miles to the finish — a sign she was still moving well when others were feeling the distance.

Karen Castro, 70, of Dallas, took 2nd in 3:06:21 at a 14:13/mi pace, but the final miles told a harder story: she slipped two spots among the women's field in that closing segment, posting the 1,176th-fastest women's split on the 6.9M-to-finish stretch. She held on for the runner-up spot, but Thornton's lead was never in doubt.

The battle for 3rd through 5th was the race's most compelling subplot. Marilyn Harknett of Deerfield Beach — at 74, the oldest competitor in the field — crossed in 3:26:17 to claim 3rd. Rama Srinivasan, 72, of Oakland finished 4th in 3:30:28, though she faded slightly in the back half, dropping from 1,285th to 1,309th among women in that final segment. Brooke Sanders, 72, of Santa Cruz rounded out the top five in 3:39:07. Patty Seaman, 70, of Bellingham completed the six-woman field in 4:11:55 — nearly 33 minutes behind Sanders but every bit a finisher on a cold Napa morning.