Kaua'i Marathon F35-39: Humphreys Runs Down the Field for the Win

• Alexandra Humphreys won the F35-39 age group in 4:08:35 (9:29/mi), climbing from 32nd to 11th among women across the race.
• Nikka Takane finished 2nd in 4:13:53 — just 5 minutes 18 seconds back — and posted the 10th-fastest women's closing split from 24.15 miles to the finish.
• Sophie Ballantyne earned 3rd in 4:29:23, aided by the 17th-fastest women's split on the 22.25–24.15 mile stretch.
• A 40-minute gap separates the top 5 finishers (4:08:35 to 4:34:57) from the bottom 5 (5:05:16 to 5:08:42), illustrating how sharply the field spread across 26.2 miles in Kaua'i's warm, humid conditions.

Alexandra Humphreys made the F35-39 race look like a long, calculated hunt. Starting conservatively — she sat 32nd among women through the early miles — she was already up to 13th by the halfway point and held 11th all the way to the tape, finishing in 4:08:35 at a 9:29/mi clip. Her 9th-fastest women's split from 24.15 miles to the finish confirmed she had plenty left when others were fading in the 77°F, 69% humidity conditions along Poipu's coast.

Nikka Takane ran a remarkably similar race. The Hilo local began even more aggressively — 25th among women early on — and steadily climbed to 12th by the finish in 4:13:53. She also closed hard, posting the 10th-fastest women's split over that same final stretch. The gap between her and Humphreys was 5:18, a meaningful margin but a testament to how evenly matched the top two were in pacing strategy and late-race execution.

Sophie Ballantyne of Palm Beach, Queensland made her move in the middle miles, logging the 17th-fastest women's split between 22.25 and 24.15 miles, and crossed 3rd in 4:29:23 — nearly 16 minutes behind Takane but a comfortable cushion over 4th-place Camille Khairallah (4:33:16) and 5th-place Jana Cano (4:34:57). Those three spots were separated by just 5:34, the tightest clustering on the podium's back half. Cano, notably, was 14th among women early in the race before gradually sliding to 31st — a tough day in the humidity for the Lihue local.