Santa Rosa Marathon F30-39: McGillivray surges home to claim the title

• Elspeth McGillivray, 3:00:41 (6:53/mi): won the F30-39 field of 125 with the 3rd-fastest women's split on the back half, climbing from 7th to 4th among all women.
• 13-second gap at the top: Carina Nieto finished 2nd in 3:00:54 — close in time, but McGillivray's second-half pace was meaningfully faster; Nieto held steady while McGillivray caught up.
• Krista Drechsler, 3:01:53: the 2023 Santa Rosa Marathon women's winner returned to her home course and landed on the F30-39 podium in 3rd, though she faded from 4th to 6th among women in the back half.
• Villalobos, the biggest mover: Gabriella Villalobos jumped from 16th to 10th among women over the second half — the 8th-fastest women's split on that stretch — to claim 5th in F30-39 in 3:08:51.

The F30-39 race at Santa Rosa delivered a genuine second-half drama across the top three. McGillivray, 30, from Victoria, BC, ran the first half in 7th place among women before unleashing the 3rd-fastest women's split from 13.1 miles to the finish, ultimately crossing in 3:00:41 at a 6:53/mi clip. That surge was enough to overtake rivals and secure the win — and, on this flat, fast course through Sonoma County wine country, she did it in just over three hours.

Nieto, also 32 and running out of San Francisco, was the steadiest of the trio. She held 5th among women from the halfway point all the way to the finish, crossing in 3:00:54 with the 5th-fastest women's back-half split. The 13-second gap between her and McGillivray reflects a catch-up, not a lockstep race — McGillivray ran the second half faster; Nieto simply didn't fade. Drechsler, meanwhile, had come through the halfway mark in 4th among women but gave back ground over the final 13 miles, finishing 3rd in F30-39 with a 3:01:53 — still a strong showing on the course where she won outright in 2023.

Behind the podium, Alexandria Austin (4th, 3:06:01) and Villalobos (5th, 3:08:51) rounded out a competitive top five. Villalobos in particular made her move count, climbing six spots among women in the back half. Further back, a tight cluster formed between 11th and 15th: Mallory Rayner (3:18:50), Karen Forsman (3:19:00), Mary Katchur (3:19:12), Christal Espinoza (3:19:17), and Aiza Golledge (3:19:21) — five runners separated by just 31 seconds across those spots in a field of 125.