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Napa-to-Sonoma Half Marathon is Sunday, 5K openings

Cain running for USA in world championship marathon

 

Having developed into one of the top competitive half-marathons in the country, the annual Napa-to-Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon, organized by Destination Races of Sonoma, will have its eighth running this Sunday, July 17.

The sold-out half-marathon – with the annual pre-race expo will be held tomorrow, Saturday, July 16, at Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma – begins at 7:10 a.m. at Cuvaison Carneros Estate winery in Napa, with the scenic 13.1-mile certified course winding its way into the Valley and ending in front of the Sonoma City Hall on the Plaza.

When the race route enters the Valley, there will be traffic detours in Sonoma at Burndale road, Denmark and MacArthur streets, and Broadway.

In the wake of the popular Hit the Road Jack benefit runs being cancelled last month, Destination Races has added a “GunBunFunRun” 5K race, which starts at 8:15 a.m. at Gundlach Bundschu Winery and finishes in the Plaza to coincide with the half-marathon finish. With registration limited to 300 participants, there still were approximately 50 openings for the GunBunFunRun 5K race as of presstime.

Part of the United States Half Marathon Race Series, the Wine Country Half Marathon will again feature an elite field of runners from around the world, including defending champion Tesfaye Sendeku of Ethiopia, who shattered the course record in 2010 by nearly a minute with a time of 1 hour, 3.58 seconds.

Leading the women’s half-marathon field will be former winners and nationally ranked runners Tiffany Marley and Julia Stamps Mallon, who was a state-champion high school runner from Santa Rosa and an All-American at Stanford.

A well-known musician from a famous band (name not revealed as of presstime) will be running in the race for his charity, Chron's & Colitis Foundation of America, and will have a documentary being taped over the weekend of his experience.

Also, Glen Ellen's John Litzenberg will again attempt to place in the top-10 and be the top Napa or Sonoma County finisher. Last year, Litzenberg was the Valley's top finisher, earning 12th place overall and winning his 40-to-44-year-old age-group in a time of 1:15.15.

For more information on the Napa-to-Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon and registration for the GunBunFunRun visit www.napa2sonoma.com.

 

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Dr. Janet Cain, a clinical psychologist in the Valley,who runs nationally for the Impalas women’s running team, will not be competing in the Napa-to-Sonoma Half Marathon as she does every year because this Sunday, July 17, she is representing the USA in the world championship marathon in Sacramento.

The prestigious world running event is taking place in the United States for the first time in 16 years and Cain told the Index-Tribune that she feels she has a good chance of medaling.

Cain is a former national marathon champion in her 55-to-59-year-old age-group and in 2009 she ran her 25th Boston Marathon and 50th overall marathon, which followed up with her age-group victory at the Napa Marathon.