NB40-44 Women: Krunal Patel Defends Her Podium Form in San Francisco

• Krunal Patel won the NB40-44 race in 3:55:44 (8:59/mi), posting the 4th-fastest second-half split among all women in the field.
• Patel finished just 1:24 slower than her 3rd-place finish here in 2023 (3:54:20) — a remarkably consistent return to San Francisco.
• Asa King (age 40, San Francisco) crossed in 5:26:13, with the 17th-fastest women's split on the Garmin Hill Challenge stretch through 14.95M.
• Avery Stapleton (age 40, Livermore) completed the three-woman field in 5:46:54, clocking the 16th-fastest women's split on the early 1.81M–6.52M segment.

Three women lined up in the NB40-44 field on a cool, overcast San Francisco morning — 56°F with heavy humidity — and Krunal Patel of Danville made her presence felt from the gun. Tracking at 8th among women through the opening miles, she steadily climbed the gender standings, cracking the top 5 among women by the final stretch and finishing at 5th overall among women. The engine behind that late charge: the 4th-fastest second-half women's split in the entire field, a surge that sealed her NB40-44 title in 3:55:44.

What makes Patel's win resonate even more is the context. She stood on the podium here in 2023 with a 3:54:20, and she came back in 2024 to do it again — this time taking the top spot in her group with a finish just 84 seconds off that prior effort. That kind of year-over-year consistency on a notoriously hilly San Francisco course is no small thing.

Behind her, Asa King of San Francisco navigated the same demanding streets to finish 2nd in NB40-44 at 5:26:13 (12:27/mi). King showed real strength on the Garmin Hill Challenge segment, posting the 17th-fastest women's split through 14.95M. Avery Stapleton of Livermore rounded out the field in 3rd at 5:46:54 (13:14/mi), with her best moment coming early — the 16th-fastest women's split on the opening 1.81M-to-6.52M stretch showed she came out with purpose.