M70-74 Half Marathon: Castillo dominates as Napa's own takes the title

• Michael Castillo won the M70-74 field in 1:47:19 (8:11/mi), finishing more than 11 minutes clear of second place.
• Clive Philbrick, 74, was the oldest finisher in the group and claimed second in 1:58:47 (9:04/mi).
• Jack Zakarian and Steven Cardey staged a tight mid-pack battle, finishing 3rd and 4th in 2:17:14 and 2:20:34 — separated by just 3:20.
• Six men finished in the M70-74 field on a cool, breezy Napa morning.

Michael Castillo made the M70-74 race his own from start to finish. The 71-year-old Napa local steadily climbed through the men's field as the race progressed — moving from 338th among men at the first checkpoint to 324th at the midpoint, then up to 310th by the finish — a sign of a runner who ran with control and built into his effort. His 8:11/mi average was the clear class of this group, and his 1:47:19 gave him a winning margin of more than 11 minutes over second place.

Clive Philbrick, racing at 74 as the oldest finisher in the group, earned second in 1:58:47. He navigated the race with a bit more fluctuation — slipping back among men in the middle stretch before recovering to post the 510th-fastest men's split on the final leg to the finish, clocking in at a 9:04/mi average. Third went to Jack Zakarian of Orinda in 2:17:14, while Steven Cardey — another Napa local — crossed fourth in 2:20:34. The two were separated by 3:20, but both ran the middle segment at a comparable clip, with Zakarian posting the 714th-fastest men's split on the 3.1M-to-6.9M stretch versus Cardey's 735th — a stretch where Cardey's gender ranking actually slipped from 717th to 763rd, while Zakarian held steadier.

Stuart Steele rounded out fifth in 3:20:18 at a 15:17/mi pace, and Steven Egelhoff closed out the M70-74 field in 3:39:58 at 16:47/mi — both finishing what is no small feat on a cool, windy March morning in Napa Valley.