San Francisco Half Marathon F70-74: Foresteire Leads Wire to Wire

• Nancy Foresteire (Rockledge, FL, age 70) won the F70-74 race in 2:13:43 (10:12/mi), finishing ahead of the field by over 10 minutes.
• Ginny Gjedsted (San Francisco, CA, age 74) claimed 2nd in 2:23:45 (10:58/mi) — the hometown runner crossing 10 minutes back but well clear of 3rd.
• Sherrie Cartinella (Reno, NV, age 71) took 3rd in 2:58:14, with 4th-place Linda Sadler (Nashville, TN, age 73) finishing in 3:12:14 — a gap of nearly 14 minutes between them.
• Karen Queally (San Bruno, CA, age 71) rounded out the five-woman field in 3:51:54 (17:41/mi).

Nancy Foresteire made her intentions clear from the gun. The 70-year-old from Rockledge, Florida, moved steadily through the women's field all morning — climbing from 739th among women at the first checkpoint to 620th by mile 10.9, and then unleashing one of the stronger closing efforts in the group, posting the 543rd-fastest women's split on the 10.9M-to-finish stretch. She crossed in 2:13:43 at a 10:12/mi clip, a commanding performance in the F70-74 field.

Ginny Gjedsted, running on home turf in San Francisco, was the closest challenger. The 74-year-old tracked a similar arc — moving from 998th among women early before working her way up to 851st — and finished in 2:23:45 (10:58/mi). That's a 10:02 gap to Foresteire, but Gjedsted was clearly the second-best finisher in the group, holding a comfortable margin over the rest of the field on a cool, humid morning along the San Francisco waterfront.

Behind those two, the race split into a distinct second tier. Sherrie Cartinella of Reno finished 3rd in 2:58:14, nearly 35 minutes behind Gjedsted. Linda Sadler of Nashville came home 4th in 3:12:14, and Karen Queally of San Bruno completed the field in 3:51:54 — all five women finishing a half marathon in San Francisco at age 70 or older, which is the real story here.