Kaua'i Marathon F40-44: Nikki Siglin Surges Through the Back Half to Take the Title

• Nikki Siglin won the F40-44 group in 4:47:59 (10:59/mi), the only finisher in the group to break five hours.
• Siglin posted the 31st-fastest women's split on the Half→22.25-mile segment — a strong mid-race push that coincided with her climbing from 67th to 42nd among all women.
• Amber Becklin was the early mover, logging the 34th-fastest women's split on the 6.55-mile→Half segment, but faded from 30th to 48th among women in the second half, surrendering the group lead.
• The back of the field was tightly clustered by geography: four of the bottom five finishers call Hawaii home, with the last two — Janine Carvalho and Erica Rideau — separated by just 23 seconds after 6:37 on course.

In 77°F heat with 69% humidity off the Poipu coast, ten women in the F40-44 group tackled the Kaua'i Marathon, and the race played out as a story of two very different strategies. Amber Becklin of Reno came out sharp, running the 34th-fastest women's split in the field through the first half and sitting 30th among women at the midpoint. Nikki Siglin, meanwhile, was still climbing — she was 67th among women early and hadn't yet made her move.

Then the back half happened. Siglin shifted gears between the halfway point and mile 22.25, posting the 31st-fastest women's split in the field on that stretch and vaulting from 53rd to 43rd among women. Becklin, by contrast, slipped from 30th to 48th in the same window. The group lead changed hands, and Siglin never gave it back, finishing in 4:47:59 — more than three minutes clear of Becklin's 4:51:10 and nearly six ahead of Bethany Bletscher's 4:53:22 in third.

Bletscher, 40, from Aliso Viejo, ran a steady if gradually fading race — she was 37th among women early and settled at 51st by the finish — but her 11:11/mi average was good enough to hold third comfortably. Karla Mechell Tapia rounded out the top four in 5:17:41, and Jennifer Worthington in fifth showed the most positive momentum in the back half, climbing from 91st to 79th among women by the finish. At the very back, Erica Rideau edged Janine Carvalho by 23 seconds after more than six and a half hours — a quiet battle that was anything but quick.