F70-74 Half Marathon: Stewart Runs Away With It in 2:00:05

• Kate Stewart won the F70-74 race in 2:00:05 (9:10/mi), steadily climbing from 498th to 290th among women across the race.
• Nikki Donaldson held 2nd in 2:44:35, more than 44 minutes back — a gap that underscores just how dominant Stewart's effort was.
• Galina Baklanova finished 5th in 2:33:00 but crossed ahead of 4th-place Karen Castro (3:20:44) by nearly 48 minutes, making the back half of this field the widest spread of the day.
• Kate Sosin (3rd, 3:10:38) started fast — entering from 476th among women — before fading to nearly 1,800th by the closing miles.

Kate Stewart, 72, from Berkeley, put together one of the cleaner performances in this five-woman field, running 9:10/mi through the cool, humid streets of San Francisco to finish in 2:00:05. She was never threatened: her gender place improved at every checkpoint, moving from 498th at the first marker all the way to 290th by the finish. Her closing split from 11.45 miles to the finish was the 208th-fastest among all women — a strong surge to close it out.

The race's most dramatic arc belonged to Kate Sosin, also of Berkeley, who came out of the gates at a pace that had her sitting 476th among women through the opening miles. That early energy didn't hold. By mid-race she had fallen back to 1,489th, and she ultimately settled for 3rd in 3:10:38 at 14:33/mi. It's a finish that speaks to the challenge of pacing San Francisco's rolling course, especially over 13.1 miles.

Nikki Donaldson, 71, from Reedley, was steady if not spectacular, running 12:33/mi for a 2:44:35 and 2nd place. Her gender standing improved gradually from 1,691st to 1,481st — a consistent, measured effort across the full distance. Behind her, Galina Baklanova (2:33:00, 11:40/mi) actually ran the faster race but finished 5th in the F70-74 standings — a reminder that the clock doesn't always tell the whole story within a competitive cohort. Karen Castro, 70, from Dallas, rounded out the five finishers in 3:20:44.