Hall, Nicks Win Healdsburg Wine Country Half Marathon

Santa Rosa native Sara Bei Hall breaks course record in half-marathon debut
Source: Destination Races

Date: October 27, 2013

HEALDSBURG, Calif. - (October 26, 2013) – Michael Nicks of Portland, Ore. and Sara Bei Hall (right) of Redding, Calif. won the 6th  Healdsburg Wine Country Half Marathon on Saturday, October 26. Produced by Destination Races of Sonoma, (www.destinationraces.com/runhb), the sold-out wine harvest and Halloween themed race hosted 2,500 runners from 47 states and 8 foreign countries. The 13.1-mile race ran through the beautiful Alexander and Dry Creek Valleys on a picture perfect day.

Nicks completed the course in 1 hour, 8 minutes, 8 seconds, beating second place finisher Greg Reindl of Denver, Colo. in 1:09:11 and Jesus Campos of Fresno in 1:10:58. It was a happy homecoming for Sara Bei Hall, as she shattered the course record with a time of 1:14:33, outpacing second place finisher Elle Pishny of San Francisco in 1:20:17 and Maria Rivera of Visalia  in 1:21:05.

Sara Hall is a native of Santa Rosa and ran for Montgomery High School, where she captured four inidividual state cross country titles, three state track titles (1600m and 3200m) and the Foot Locker National High School Cross Country Championships in 2000. 

She is a seven-time All-American from Stanford, finishing runner-up in the 5,000 and indoor 3,000 meters and 3rd in the 2003 Women’s Cross Country Championships. Sara is a three-time Olympic Trials Finalist, a Pan American Games Gold Medalist, and the 2012 US National Cross Country Champion.

“What a fun and challenging race. The course kept me engaged”, enthused Bei-Hall. “It was fitting to run my first half-marathon where I started my running career.”

Hall was accompanied by her husband, U.S. Olympic marathoner Ryan Hall, who cheered her across the finish line. Ryan is a two-time Olympian and U.S. men’s half-marathon record holder with a time of 59:43. 

“Sara absolutely killed it”, said Matt Dockstader, Race Director and founder of Destination Races. “That was a very impressive time for her half-marathon debut, especially on this course.” 

Not only did Hall win by a huge margin, but she beat the previous race record set by her friend fellow Stanford College alumni Julia Stamps Mallon, who works for Destination Races and was also at the finish to congratulate her.

“Let’s not forget that over 2,000 runners competed and all of them were winners on this magnificent day in wine country,” added Dockstader.

 Hall received $1,000 for her victory and course record. Hall and Nicks also took home the Riedel Decanter trophy and 3L of wine. Every participant received a performance running shirt, unique finisher’s medal, and Riedel wine glass. The top three finishers in each age group received a bottle of wine and the top two teams won a case of wine and a winery tour. 

Runners were encouraged to dress up for the costume contest that followed the race and preceded the race awards ceremony. Winners of the costume contest were Road Kill in the individual category and the “Half-Mario-thoners” won the group costume contest. Team Hawkes won the Winery Challenge.

The post-race Wine & Music Festival featured 20 wineries and Lagunitas Brewing Company pouring for thousands of runners, family and friends at Warm Springs Recreation Area. The Race Expo was held at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek in historic Railroad Square of Santa Rosa on Friday, October 25 from. The pre-race dinner featuring Ryan Hall, husband of runner Sara Bei Hall, was held at Trione Winery and Vineyards on Friday, October 25.

Destination Races partners with a variety of national, regional and local charity and non-profit organizations. Healdsburg charities include Girls on the Run, local Sonoma County High School track and cross-country programs including Maria Carrillo HS, Healdsburg HS, and Elsie Allen HS, Kgwale le Mollo (KLM) Foundation, One Team One Fight, Team for Life-Lazarex Cancer Foundation, and Native Sons of the Golden West.

8th Healdsburg Wine Country Half-Marathon

Healdsburg, CA, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2013

MEN                                                               

1. Michael Nicks                   32        Portland, OR            1:08:08

2. Greg Reindl                       29        Denver, CA                1:09:11

3. Jesus Campos                  28        Fresno, CA               1:10:58

WOMEN

1. Sara Bei Hall                    30        Redding, CA        1:14:33

2. Elle Pishny                       28        San Francisco, CA   1:20:17

3. Maria Rivera                     24        Visalia, CA                1:21:05

For full results, go to http://www.destinationraces.com

this article Courtesy of Running USA wire