Santa Rosa 10K: Pellascini dominates the F50-59 field

• Yaneyra Pellascini won the F50-59 race in 49:22 (7:57/mi) — a full 3 minutes ahead of 2nd place.
• Shannon Schiller held 2nd in 52:22 (8:26/mi), more than 5 minutes clear of the podium's 3rd spot.
• Places 5 through 7 — Kerstin Fletcher (59:28), Lisa Cassidy (59:57), and Mariko Wesley-Fagundes (1:00:07) — were separated by just 39 seconds across the three of them.
• The F50-59 field stretched across 48 finishers on a cool, misty Santa Rosa morning.

Yaneyra Pellascini, 51, from Santa Rosa, made this race her own from the start. Her 49:22 finish at 7:57/mi wasn't just a win — it was a statement, putting nearly three minutes of daylight between herself and Shannon Schiller of Windsor before the clock even hit the hour mark. Schiller's 52:22 (8:26/mi) was a convincing runner-up effort in its own right, but the gap between these two and the rest of the field tells the real story: Mary Lile of Petaluma claimed 3rd in 57:47, more than five minutes behind Schiller.

The race's most compelling subplot played out in the cluster chasing 4th through 7th. Alessandra Diana (58:27) and Kerstin Fletcher (59:28) traded positions in the sub-hour window, with Fletcher ultimately settling for 5th — just one minute behind Diana. Then came a genuine battle: Lisa Cassidy (59:57) and Mariko Wesley-Fagundes (1:00:07) finished just 10 seconds apart for 6th and 7th, with Debbie Rosenberg (1:01:14) and Tina Janulaw (1:01:27) close behind in 8th and 9th.

Further back, the field stayed competitive deep into the standings. Wendy White (1:01:44, 10th) and Carrie LeRoy (1:02:02, 11th) were separated by only 18 seconds, and Susan Moreno's 1:02:10 for 12th kept that cluster tight. Asya Kamsky, 59, of New York rounded out the top 20 in 1:07:52 — the field's oldest athlete among the listed finishers, and still running a 10:55/mi pace on a humid Sonoma County morning. All 48 finishers crossed the line on a day that, at 60°F and heavy mist, at least kept the heat at bay.