F65-69 at Napa Valley Marathon: Iris Park Runs Away With It

• Iris Park, 66, wins in 3:48:15 (8:42/mi), pulling from 150th among women at the half to 101st by mile 20 before finishing 121st — a powerful mid-race surge.
• Gap from 1st to 2nd: 37 minutes 36 seconds — Park was in a category of her own among the five F65-69 finishers.
• Janeen Frank, 68, edges Linda Frank, 67 — sisters or strangers, their names tell a story: Janeen took 3rd in 4:39:30, with Linda 4th in 5:24:31, both posting their strongest relative splits on the 20M-to-finish stretch.
• Cyd Antang completes the field in 6:02:35 (13:50/mi), steady to the end in a five-finisher F65-69 field.

On a crisp 39°F morning in Napa, Iris Park of Porter Ranch put on a masterclass in pacing and progression. She entered the halfway mark ranked 150th among women, then shifted gears — climbing to 121st by the 10K mark, surging all the way to 101st by mile 20. That middle stretch, miles 13.1 to 20, was her signature: the 72nd-fastest women's split on that segment in the entire field. She crossed in 3:48:15, averaging 8:42 per mile, and no one in the F65-69 field came close.

Cindy Egger of Galt claimed 2nd in 4:25:51 (10:08/mi), finishing 37-plus minutes behind Park — a gap that underscores just how dominant the winner was. Egger's best relative moment came early; her 10K-to-half split ranked 250th among women, but the back half of the course took its toll as she slid from 227th to 297th among women before recovering slightly to 286th at the line.

Janeen Frank, 68, of Novelty ran a composed back-end race to claim 3rd in 4:39:30 (10:40/mi), posting the 294th-fastest women's split from mile 20 to the finish — a strong close. Linda Frank, 67, of Hudson followed in 4th at 5:24:31 (12:23/mi), also finding her best gear in that final stretch with the 436th-fastest women's closing split. Cyd Antang of Walnut Creek rounded out the five-finisher field in 6:02:35 (13:50/mi), holding a remarkably consistent position among women throughout — drifting only from 539th to 547th across all four checkpoints.