M75-79 Half Marathon: Gonzalez Apaolaza Dominates at 78

• Raul Gonzalez Apaolaza won M75-79 in 2:05:31 (9:34/mi) — an 18-minute gap over runner-up Harry Cadelago (2:23:33).
• Harry Cadelago (2:23:33) and John Chapdelaine (2:24:18) finished just 45 seconds apart for 2nd and 3rd.
• Howard Grubbs crossed 4th in 2:30:17 (11:28/mi), completing a tight mid-pack cluster spanning under 7 minutes across places 2 through 4.
• Jack Miller, 79, rounded out the five-man field in 3:25:14 (15:40/mi) — nearly an hour back of the winner but finishing a half marathon at 79 in 41°F conditions.

Five men lined up in M75-79 at the 2023 Napa Valley Half Marathon, and Raul Gonzalez Apaolaza made the outcome clear early. The 78-year-old from Mexico moved through the men's field from 263rd to 468th on the back half — meaning he was giving up ground to the broader field in the second half but had already built an insurmountable lead within his own group. His 9:34/mi average produced a 2:05:31 finish, a full 18 minutes clear of anyone else in M75-79.

Behind him, the race for 2nd was genuinely tight. Harry Cadelago of Napa (2:23:33, 10:57/mi) held off John Chapdelaine of Hendersonville (2:24:18, 11:00/mi) by just 45 seconds. Both ran similar paces through the back half, but Cadelago's faster 6.9M-to-Finish split — 637th among men versus Chapdelaine's 651st — tells the story: Cadelago ran that closing stretch a touch stronger and preserved the gap. Howard Grubbs of Blowing Rock came home 4th in 2:30:17 (11:28/mi), a noticeably slower closing pace than the two ahead of him, finishing about six minutes behind Chapdelaine.

Jack Miller of Vallejo, the oldest man in the group at 79, finished 5th in 3:25:16 at 15:40/mi. The gap to 4th was substantial, but completing 13.1 miles in cool, breezy Napa conditions at age 79 is its own story. Five men started, five men finished.