Napa Valley Marathon F45-49: Wei Li Charges Through the Field to Take the Title

• Wei Li wins in 3:27:26 (7:55/mi), nearly three minutes clear of runner-up Sachiko Iwasaki (3:30:24, 8:01/mi).
• Li's second-half surge was the story: she moved from 97th among women at the halfway point all the way to 51st by the finish, posting the 42nd-fastest women's split on the 13.1M–20M stretch.
• Christina Hom built her lead early — running 62nd among women through 6.2M — but faded from 63rd to 81st between the half and mile 20, arriving third in 3:32:57 (8:07/mi).
• Thuy Le and Ana Horta ran the strongest closing legs of anyone in the top five, posting the 104th- and 100th-fastest women's splits respectively on the 20M-to-finish segment to lock up 4th (3:45:31) and 5th (3:46:25) — separated by just 54 seconds.

Cold, wet, and blustery at the start — 41°F with light rain — the F45-49 field of 54 rewarded those who saved something for the back half. Nobody illustrated that better than Wei Li of Saratoga. She was buried 97th among women at the midpoint, but ran one of the sharpest middle segments in the women's race, cracking the top 42 women between miles 13.1 and 20, and never looked back. Her 3:27:26 at 7:55 per mile was a commanding performance on a day that punished anyone who went out too hard.

Sachiko Iwasaki of Sunnyvale ran the most consistent race on the podium, moving steadily from 85th among women at the first checkpoint to 69th by the finish — a quiet, controlled effort that earned her second place in 3:30:24. Christina Hom of Berkeley was the early mover, climbing as high as 62nd among women through 6.2 miles, but the middle stretch proved costly: she slipped back to 81st by mile 20 before steadying to finish third in 3:32:57. The top three were separated by 5:31 — a gap that tells the story of two very different race strategies.

The battle for fourth and fifth was the tightest subplot of the day. Thuy Le (3:45:31) and Ana Horta (3:46:25) were practically inseparable, with Horta posting the 100th-fastest women's closing split to Le's 104th — both making up ground in the final 10K on a field that was tiring. Behind them, Laura Baurin (3:47:35), Ruhua You (3:48:36), and Stephanie Richardson (3:50:31) rounded out a competitive top eight, all finishing within three minutes of each other.