Masters Men Half Marathon: Lira Runs Away with It in the Napa Rain

• Cesar Lira, 42, wins in 1:12:55 (5:34/mi), a full 58 seconds clear of runner-up Corey Baxter — the largest gap in the top four by a wide margin.
• Top four separated by just 1:15 — Baxter (1:13:53), Vitor Rodrigues (1:14:03), and Chip Scarinzi (1:14:10) fought a tight three-way battle for the podium.
• Rodrigues was the strongest finisher in the top four, posting the 18th-fastest men's split on the back half (6.9M→Finish) to edge Scarinzi by seven seconds for third.
• Raymond Liu, 49, cracked the top ten with a 1:24:23 (6:26/mi), and Ronald Bodkin, 54, finished 15th in 1:27:27 — standout efforts from the senior end of this 404-man field.

Cold, wet, and blustery — 40°F with light rain and 84% humidity — the 2024 Napa Valley Half Marathon handed the Masters Men a proper test of grit. Cesar Lira of Daly City answered it emphatically. Running 5:34 per mile, he moved through the men's field from 17th at the first checkpoint all the way to 12th by the midpoint, and he held that position home. His 12th-fastest men's split on the 3.1M–6.9M segment was the engine of that move, and he never looked back, winning in 1:12:55.

Behind him, the battle for second through fourth was genuinely absorbing. Corey Baxter of Fairfield ran 5:38/mi to finish second in 1:13:53, but he was under pressure the whole way — his gender place actually slipped from 15th to 17th across the race as Rodrigues and Scarinzi came charging. Rodrigues, starting further back at 24th among men, climbed steadily to 19th by the finish, and his 18th-fastest men's split in the final stretch was the decisive move that secured third in 1:14:03. Scarinzi matched that same 18th-fastest pace on the middle segment but couldn't replicate it late, settling for fourth in 1:14:10 — just seven seconds behind Rodrigues.

Fifth through seventh saw Barrett Larson (1:18:03), Brandon Day (1:18:54), and Matthew Kidwll (1:19:14) form a tight cluster at the front of the chasing pack, each running between 5:57 and 6:03 per mile. Further back, the depth of this 404-finisher field told its own story: Raymond Liu, the oldest in the top ten at 49, crossed in 1:24:23, and Ronald Bodkin, 54, put in a composed 6:40/mi effort to finish 15th in 1:27:27 — proof that the Masters Men race at Napa runs deep well beyond the podium.