Kaua'i Half Marathon F25-29: Cadera Smith Pulls Away for the Win

• Cadera Smith won the F25-29 age group in 1:37:43 (7:27/mi), posting the 6th-fastest women's split on the second half of the course (Half→11.05 Mile) to seal the victory.
• Amy Hanley was Smith's closest challenger, finishing 2nd in 1:38:28 — just 45 seconds back after running the 8th-fastest women's split on that same stretch.
• The podium gap widened sharply after Hanley: Cheyenne Tilford took 3rd in 1:43:38, more than five minutes behind the winner.
• Olivia Roberts (9th, 1:57:52) and Madison Moore (10th, 1:57:54) were separated by just two seconds in a tight battle for the top-10 among 149 finishers.

Warm and humid on Kauai's south shore — 77°F with 69% humidity — the conditions made every minute earned. Cadera Smith of Fountainville, PA handled it best, running a composed 7:27-per-mile pace from start to finish. Her gender place among all women tracked 10th to 7th before settling at 8th, a trajectory that tells the story neatly: she was building, not fading.

Amy Hanley, racing on home turf in Aiea, HI, was Smith's shadow all morning. She held 9th among the women's field through every checkpoint and crossed in 1:38:28 — a strong 7:31/mi — but couldn't quite close the gap Smith had opened. The two were the clear class of the F25-29 field, separated from 3rd place by over five minutes.

Cheyenne Tilford (Lawai, HI) and Kari Radke (Colorado Springs, CO) waged their own battle for the final podium spot, finishing 3rd and 4th in 1:43:38 and 1:44:06 respectively — a 28-second margin after 13.1 miles. Julia Thirolf, representing Munich, added an international flavor to the top five, crossing in 1:45:17 with the 16th-fastest women's split on the back half of the course.

Deeper in the field, the race to crack two hours produced some of the tightest finishes of the day. Roberts and Moore crossed 9th and 10th in 1:57:52 and 1:57:54 — two seconds apart after nearly two hours of racing — while a cluster of runners from 12th through 15th place were all packed within 73 seconds of each other. In a 149-finisher age group, the racing was real all the way down the leaderboard.