The always popular Napa-To-Sonoma Half Marathon presented by Destination Races was run this past Sunday morning and featured some of the top runners both in the Bay Area and from around the country competing in the 13.3-mile trek through the Carneros region with a finish at Sonoma Plaza.
Glen Ellen resident John Litzenberg placed seventh overall in the event but ran the fastest time in the Masters division at 1:16:15. The 45-year-old was the fastest Valley resident in the field.
The winner of the men’s event was once again Tesfaye Alemayehu of Antioch, who ran the course in 1:05:39 with a 5-minute mile pace. The 31-year-old Ethiopia native has won each of the last five Napa-To-Sonoma races, including setting the course record back in 2012 at 1:02:38.
Justin Young of Louisville, Colorado, took second with a time of 1:06:24 (5:04-mile pace) while Malcolm Richards of San Francisco took third 16 seconds behind Young (1:06:40 – 5:05-mile pace).
In the women’s division, it was Tori Tyler of Danville taking home the gold with a time of 1:18:09 (5:57-mile pace). Tyler’s time was the eighth best time overall. Second place went to Los Angeles native Emily Mareb (1:19:35, 6:04-mile pace) while Oakland’s Magdalena Lewy Boulet won third place (1:21:12, 06:11 pace). Mareb’s time was 11th best while Boulet’s was 14th.
In addition to the half marathon was the GunBunFunRun 5k event, with the top Valley runner being 58-year-old Lance Jensen, who ran the race in 24:11 and was tied for 18th overall. The Sonoma resident had a mile pace of 7:48.
The winner of the event was Bjorn Samson of San Jose, who ran the race in 20:34 (6:38 mile pace). Jessica Van Cleave of Jacksonville, Florida, and Ameen Moshifar of Sandy, ?Utah, tied for second place (20:57, 6:45).
Complete race results are available at destinationraces.com/runn2s.
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