Napa Valley Marathon F25-29: Carlson Closes Strong for the Win

• Patricia Carlson, 26, wins in 2:57:14 (6:46/mi), climbing from 16th to 10th among women by the finish — with the 9th-fastest women's split on the final 10K stretch.
• Katie Chu, 28, finishes 25 seconds back at 2:57:39 (6:47/mi), posting the 7th-fastest women's second-half split — she ran the back half faster than Carlson, but couldn't quite close the gap.
• Nicole Foringer, 26, runs the strongest late surge in the chasing pack, moving from 44th to 28th among women across 26.2 miles, posting the 21st-fastest women's second-half split en route to 5th in 3:13:12.
• Sarah Lau, 28, makes the biggest overall climb of any finisher listed, advancing from 35th to 26th among women to take 4th in 3:11:14.

Patricia Carlson ran a controlled, calculated race along the Silverado Trail, working her way through the women's field in steady increments — 16th among women at the first checkpoint, 14th, then 13th, and finally 10th by the finish line in Napa. Her 2:57:14 at 6:46/mi earned her the F25-29 title, and her 9th-fastest women's split on the final 6.2 miles shows she had something left when it counted most.

Hot on her heels was Katie Chu of San Francisco, who crossed in 2:57:39 — just 25 seconds behind. Chu's race tells an interesting story: she posted the 7th-fastest women's second-half split in the entire field, meaning she was running faster than Carlson in the back half. The gap had simply been built earlier, and while Chu made up time, 25 seconds was the final answer.

Behind the podium, the story was all about forward momentum. Taryn Cordani of Stanford took 3rd in 3:08:30 (7:11/mi), posting the 16th-fastest women's split on the 6.2-to-13.1-mile segment before fading slightly — she slipped from 18th to 22nd among women in the second half. Sarah Lau and Nicole Foringer told the opposite tale, both charging through the field across the full race. Lau moved from 35th to 26th among women to finish 4th in 3:11:14, while Foringer's march from 44th all the way to 28th among women culminated in a 5th-place finish of 3:13:12.

Fem Woodruff (3:14:32) and Devyn Greenberg (3:14:55) rounded out the top seven within 23 seconds of each other, in a field of 132 finishers that stretched deep with competitive times across the board.