Napa Valley Marathon 5K — F65-69: Kissinger-Totten Edges Kritter in a Two-Second Thriller

• Kristy Kissinger-Totten (age 66, Juneau, AK) won the F65-69 race in 33:07 at a 10:40/mi pace — edging runner-up Lynne Kritter by just two seconds.
• Lynne Kritter (age 68, Culpeper, VA) finished 2nd in 33:09 — the same displayed pace, but a razor-thin margin behind in a field of nine.
• Carlene Nakagawa (3rd, 35:49) and Lynette Collins (4th, 36:11) ran a tight battle of their own, separated by just 22 seconds at 11:32 and 11:39/mi respectively.
• The field spread wide from there: Claudia Bancroft finished 5th in 45:55, with the back half of the field spanning from 58:31 to 1:17:00.

Cold, wet, and barely above 40°F on race morning in Napa, the F65-69 field of nine delivered one of the closest finishes of the day at the top. Kristy Kissinger-Totten of Juneau, Alaska — no stranger to cold — crossed in 33:07 to claim the win, with Lynne Kritter of Culpeper, Virginia just two seconds behind at 33:09. Both clocked a 10:40/mi average, but the clock told the real story: Kissinger-Totten held on by the narrowest of margins.

Right behind them, Carlene Nakagawa (3rd, 35:49) and Lynette Collins (4th, 36:11) staged their own compelling duel, separated by 22 seconds across a 5K run in the rain. Collins, racing on home turf in Napa, couldn't quite reel in Nakagawa, who held the edge at 11:32/mi to Collins' 11:39/mi.

Claudia Bancroft (5th, 45:55) completed the top five before a notable gap opened to the back of the field. Qingxi Wan (6th, 58:31) and Celia Huang (7th, 58:37) finished just six seconds apart — a close battle in their own right at the back of the pack. Lori-Ann Vanderwoude crossed 8th in 1:00:15, and Karen Wheeler rounded out the nine finishers in 1:17:00 — still out there covering ground in the rain.