San Francisco Half Marathon 2024: Costantini Commands the F35-39 Field

• Samantha Costantini won F35-39 in 1:35:49 (7:19/mi), holding 5th among women through the first half before pulling away to finish 10th among all women.
• Anna Flores closed hard with the 9th-fastest women's split on the 7.12M→10.65M stretch, climbing from 19th to 12th among women to claim 2nd in F35-39 in 1:36:32.
• Kristin Main was the field's biggest mover: she entered the 2.13M mark ranked 148th among women and finished 50th — a relentless 98-place climb to 5th in F35-39 in 1:44:24.
• Areli Martinez Acosta (3rd, 1:38:07) was racing on back-to-back days, having placed 5th among women in the Saturday 5K before toeing the half marathon line.

Samantha Costantini ran a composed, front-loaded race. The San Francisco local sat 5th among women from the opening miles and never cracked, posting the 4th-fastest women's split on the 2.13M–6.62M stretch at 7:19/mi pace. She crossed in 1:35:49, a full 43 seconds clear of the next F35-39 finisher — enough cushion to make the outcome feel settled well before the finish.

Anna Flores made her move in the back half. After drifting as far back as 19th among women through the early miles, she unleashed the 9th-fastest women's split on the 7.12M–10.65M segment to reel in rivals and finish 2nd in 1:36:32. Areli Martinez Acosta, meanwhile, had already put in a full race effort the day before — her 5th-place women's finish in the Saturday 5K makes her 3rd-place half marathon result in 1:38:07 a genuine two-day feat. Maria Bykova rounded out the podium chase in 4th at 1:39:53, steadily climbing from 34th among women at the first checkpoint all the way to 24th by the finish.

Kristin Main deserves a separate mention. Starting the 2.13-mile mark buried in 148th among women, she ground her way through the field segment by segment — 66th, 60th, 52nd, 50th — to finish 5th in F35-39 in 1:44:24, with the 40th-fastest women's split on the 7.12M–10.65M stretch fueling the charge. Behind her, Donna Atkinson (6th, 1:45:10), Heather Funke (7th, 1:45:57), and Vera Surovaia (8th, 1:45:58) were separated by less than a minute across three spots, rounding out a tight battle for the lower podium positions in a 297-finisher F35-39 field.