Woman wins Wine Country Half Marathon for 1st time in event's 20-year history
A woman won the Wine Country Half Marathon in Sonoma on Sunday for the first time in the event's 20-year history, organizers said.
It was a great day for girl power, with veteran runner Liza Reichert winning in one hour, 19 minutes and 28 seconds in the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport Napa to Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon.
Reichert was declared the winner of the overall Half Marathon race Sunday. Second place in the overall race went to David Vaseliou, who was the second-place finisher at 1 hour, 20 minutes and 15 seconds. Third place in the Half Marathon overall went to Edwin Reyes-Herrera at 1:20:59.
The race begins at Cuvaison Winery in Napa and then runs 13.1 miles to downtown Sonoma.
The event raised $62,000 for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, according to Dan Cruz, a spokesman for the race.
"The weather was cool and crisp, the heat wave we were expecting did not materialize until later in the afternoon, it was just a great, great event," Cruz said.
More than 5,000 runners and walkers participated in Sunday's half-marathon and Saturday's Rose 5K. The event saw representation from 47 states and 17 countries. Over the race's 20-year history, charity partners have fundraised more than $25 million for various causes and nonprofit organizations.
"This is incredible," said Jon Stout, general manager of Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport. "Especially being the 20th running and having the overall winner be a female. The energy is high throughout the town of Sonoma and Sonoma County, and we're proud to part of this community."