Napa Valley 5K: Libby Scanlan Runs Away with F50-54 Honors

• Libby Scanlan wins in 25:13 (8:07/mi), finishing 1:19 clear of the field — the dominant margin of the race.
• Brenda Smolarkiewicz (26:32) and Cece Lee (27:04) round out a tight podium separated by just 32 seconds.
• A 33-woman field spanning Nashville to Boulder to the Bay Area, with five Napa locals in the mix.
• The top five are separated by just 3:35 — then a two-minute gap opens to 6th place.

Libby Scanlan came to Napa and made it look controlled. The Nashville 50-year-old crossed in 25:13 at an 8:07/mi clip — a full 1:19 ahead of anyone else in the F50-54 field. On a cool, humid morning with a light breeze off the valley, that kind of sustained pace on the Napa Valley Marathon's out-and-back 5K course left no room for doubt about who owned this race.

Behind her, Brenda Smolarkiewicz of Boulder made a strong case for the podium's second step, finishing in 26:32 (8:32/mi). Fair Oaks' Cece Lee, the eldest of the top three at 54, was right on her heels in 27:04 (8:43/mi) — 32 seconds back but well clear of fourth. Cara Price (Flower Mound, TX) finished 4th in 28:05, and local favorite Amy Stark of Napa closed out the top five in 28:48. Those five are clustered within 3:35 of each other — then Yumi Kumagai of Santa Clara arrives in 6th at 30:46, marking a clear break in the field.

The back half of the named finishers tells its own story of grit. Laura Linn (37:02) and Sumer Dakak (37:07) — both 54 — finished just five seconds apart in 11th and 12th, while Bernadette Radana (38:30) and Jill Sermon (38:32) of Napa were separated by a mere two seconds in 14th and 15th. Organized by the Kiwanis Club of Greater Napa with proceeds returning to the community, this race drew 33 finishers to the F50-54 field from across the country — and every one of them earned it.