Napa Valley Marathon F60-64: Simmonds Runs Away With It

• Karyn Simmonds, 63 (San Diego) wins in 3:52:56 — an 8:53/mi average that no one in the F60-64 field came close to matching.
• Tatjana Naranda, 61 (Los Altos Hills) takes 2nd in 3:58:11 — 5:15 back, but a clear second ahead of a well-spread field.
• Violeta Arnobit, 64 (Honolulu) posts the 3rd-fastest second-half split among all women, climbing from well outside the top 600 in the women's field at the halfway mark all the way to 296th — the most dramatic move of the race in this group.
• 16 finishers completed the F60-64 race, spanning more than two hours from first to last.

Karyn Simmonds controlled this race from the front. Running 8:53 per mile across 26.2 miles on a cool, calm Napa morning, she finished in 3:52:56 — a commanding margin over every other woman in the F60-64 field. Her final push was real too: she posted the 101st-fastest women's split on the closing 20M-to-finish stretch, holding pace when others were fading, and moved up from 184th to 161st among all women in that final segment. Tatjana Naranda (3:58:11, 9:05/mi) ran a solid, consistent race to claim 2nd, never threatening Simmonds but comfortably clear of the rest.

The race's most compelling subplot belonged to Violeta Arnobit. The 64-year-old from Honolulu was buried deep in the women's field through the first half — sitting 592nd among women at the midpoint — but her second half was something else entirely. She ran the 3rd-fastest second-half split among all women in the race, rocketing to 296th by the finish and landing 5th in the F60-64 field with a 4:20:42. That's not a comfortable jog home; that's a calculated, aggressive back half.

Linda Frazier (3rd, 4:15:22) and Elizabeth Sblendorio (4th, 4:18:53) filled out the podium, separated by just 3:31, with Sblendorio actually posting the 258th-fastest women's split on the 13.1M-to-20M segment — a stretch where she was moving better than her eventual place might suggest. Ann Cartwright (6th, 4:29:06) through Denise Raska (16th, 6:05:38) rounded out a field that ranged widely in pace and geography, from Kentfield to Flint to Chapel Hill — sixteen women who took on Napa's 26.2 miles and got it done.