M70-74: Charles Weston Owns Napa at 70

• Charles Weston (Morgan Hill, age 70) wins M70-74 in 4:00:46 at a 9:11/mi pace — more than an hour clear of the field.
• Michael Urbanski (age 74) edges Bryan Henry (age 73) for 2nd: 5:06:51 to 5:14:24, a gap of 7:33.
• Francis Rodriguez and John Blenkush (both age 73 and 70, respectively) finish 4th and 5th within 71 seconds of each other: 5:18:20 and 5:19:31.
• Seven men finished M70-74 on a cool, calm Napa morning — from a 4:00 effort all the way to 6:06:59 for Steve Radigan in 7th.

Charles Weston made this race look like a different event entirely. The 70-year-old from Morgan Hill crossed in 4:00:46 — a 9:11/mi average that was never seriously threatened. His gender standing actually improved through the middle miles (moving from 432nd to 423rd among men at the halfway point), before a modest drift in the back half. His 387th-fastest men's split on the final 20M-to-finish stretch tells you he was still running with purpose when many others were fading. The runner-up finished over an hour later. That gap is the story of M70-74 at Napa 2023.

Behind Weston, a genuine race unfolded. Michael Urbanski, 74 years old and making the trip from Tucson, ran a strong middle segment — posting the 657th-fastest men's split on the 13.1M-to-20M stretch — and held on for 2nd in 5:06:51. Bryan Henry of nearby Angwin gave chase but couldn't close it down, finishing 3rd in 5:14:24 with the 718th-fastest men's closing split. That's a 7:33 gap between 2nd and 3rd — real daylight, but hard-earned by both.

The battle for 4th was tighter. Francis Rodriguez (Santa Clara, age 73) crossed in 5:18:20, with John Blenkush (Forest Ranch, age 70) just 71 seconds back in 5:19:31 — Blenkush posting the 742nd-fastest men's final leg split. Sohel Talib rounded out the competitive core in 6th at 5:48:30 (13:18/mi), and Steve Radigan of Fremont brought it home in 7th at 6:06:59 — completing a seven-man M70-74 field that covered 26.2 miles through a crisp Napa Valley morning.