Kaua'i Marathon Women: Bruce Defends, and the Podium Barely Moves

• Steph Bruce wins in 2:48:19 — one second faster than her 2025 victory (2:48:20), averaging 6:25/mi in 84°F heat and humidity.
• Top five nearly identical to 2025 — all five returning women finished in the same places, each exactly one second faster than last year.
• The race turned at the halfway mark: Bruce posted the fastest women's split from 6.55 miles to the half, overhauling Numata's early lead and never looking back.
• Seven Tudor, age 16 from Telluride, finished 6th in 3:37:52 — seven seconds behind 47-year-old Rachael Smith in 5th — the youngest name on a podium otherwise dominated by athletes in their 30s and 40s.

Steph Bruce came to Kaua'i with something to defend, and she delivered. The 41-year-old from Flagstaff ran 2:48:19 — one second quicker than her 2025 title — to claim back-to-back wins in the women's field. The race unfolded as a two-woman contest from the gun. Kana Numata held the lead through the first 6.55 miles and the early going, but Bruce posted the fastest women's split on the 6.55-to-half stretch — Numata ran the second-fastest — and that move was decisive. Bruce led from the halfway point through the finish, with Numata crossing in 2:53:07 (6:36/mi) for second, also one second ahead of her 2025 result.

Behind them, the story was remarkable consistency. Jacqueline Barrientes (3:34:34), Maria Cicio (3:36:35), and Rachael Smith (3:37:45) claimed 3rd, 4th, and 5th — the same three positions they held in 2025, each by a margin of a single second. Cicio, 48, was the mover of the mid-race, climbing from 7th at the early checkpoint to 4th by the halfway mark and holding it. Smith countered with the third-fastest women's split from 6.55 miles to the half, briefly sitting 3rd before settling into 5th.

The finish line held a few more stories worth noting. Seven Tudor of Telluride — just 16 years old — crossed in 3:37:52 for 6th, running 8:19/mi in conditions that humbled plenty of veterans. Her mother, Becca Tudor, finished 15th in 4:17:34. Farther back, Sharon Adams (50, Reston, VA) matched her 2025 result of 10th in 4:07:28, and the top-20 picture rounded out across a 124-woman field that covered the course through Kaua'i's heat and wind.