Wine Country race to end at Plaza with festival

The marathon map for the Wine Country Half Marathon. Photo Submitted.

Over 2,700 runners are registered for the fifth running of the Napa-to-Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon on Sunday, July 20. The event has become one of the more popular destination running races in the country and sold out on Feb. 16, forcing thousands to be turned away. Over 60 percent of the race participants hail from out of state and foreign countries.
This year the event returns to Sonoma Plaza for the finish and post-race Wine & Music Festival. Runners begin their 13.1-mile journey at Cuvaison Carneros Estate winery on Duhig Road in Napa, running through the Carneros wine region, crossing Highway 121 then Napa Road onto Denmark Street, before finishing up on Broadway at the Sonoma Plaza, in front of City Hall.
Local beneficiaries of the race are Hanna Boys Center, Vineyard Workers Services and Adele Harrison Middle School athletic program. The event’s national charity partner, Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America, will raise over $2 million from the event with its Team Challenge program. The event also generates over $1.5 million in revenue from tourism, goods and services to the area.
Over 150 volunteers from participating nonprofit organizations are required to help stage the event, beginning with packet pickup on Friday in San Francisco. The race expo is open to the public and is held at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, the host hotel, on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hazel Wood will be conducting a Chi Running seminar at 3 p.m. at the expo. On Saturday evening, Hanna Boys Center will host the pasta dinner. Tickets are available to the general public and can be purchased on the event website or by contacting Hanna Boys Center.
The favorite in this year’s race is Allen Wagner of San Diego, who finished 25th in this year’s Olympic Marathon trials and won the 2007 Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon. The women’s field is led by Jane Kibii from Davis and Megan Daly of Menlo Park.
Sonoma Valley Bank sponsors a prize purse of $2,000 in cash and the winners also receive a Ball Watch and a double magnum of wine. Race start time is 7 a.m., and the first runner is expected to finish at approximately 8 a.m. The public is encouraged to cheer the runners on as they run down Broadway from MacArthur Street into the Plaza.
For more event information visit www.runcarneros.com or attend the race expo on Saturday July 19 at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn.