Napa Valley Marathon 5K: Leone Owns the M65-69 Field

• Bob Leone won the M65-69 race in 44:36, averaging 14:21/mi through the wet, 41°F morning.
• Xiaolan Li finished 2nd in 57:00 — a pace of 18:21/mi, nearly 12 and a half minutes back.
• The two-man M65-69 field made every finisher a podium finisher — but Leone's margin left no doubt about who ran the stronger race.

In a chilly, rain-soaked Napa morning, the M65-69 race came down to two 66-year-olds who took very different approaches to the 5K distance. Bob Leone of Fountain Hills, AZ set the tone early and never let up, crossing the line in 44:36 at a 14:21/mi pace to claim the win outright.

Sacramento's Xiaolan Li completed the field in 57:00, running at 18:21/mi — a notably slower pace that translated into a gap of just over 12 minutes at the finish. Li earns 2nd place and the satisfaction of finishing a 5K on a raw, wet March morning, which is no small thing when the temperature is sitting at 41°F with rain coming down.

With only two men toeing the line in M65-69, Leone's victory was clean and unchallenged. He ran the kind of race that fills out a results sheet with authority — a clear winner, a clear runner-up, and a gap that told the whole story.