2020 Napa Valley Marathon has ‘largest’ field ever with over 5,000 entrants – Napa Valley Register

“We prepare all year long to have this week to prepare for all of the many things that are not set in stone and change on a dime,” she said Monday morning.

On that particular day, she was updating the event’s website and social media pages to spread the news that all the races had officially sold out. The final spots had been reserved late Sunday night.

One of the main reasons for the down-to-the-wire sellout was because of the expanded field this year. After the success of the inaugural half marathon in 2019, the organization extended the caps on both that race and the full marathon for this year.

The result?

“We’ve taken just over 700 more people across the board in all three events this year for this sellout, so we’re super excited,” La Sala said. “It’s going to be a great year. The weather is looking good, but we are coming into this race as the largest Napa Valley Marathon and Half Marathon ever.”

In total, she said, more than 5,000 people will be participating in this year’s marathon, half marathon and 5K combined, all taking place this Sunday, March 1. Two thousand have registered for the full, 2,500 for the half, and 600 for the 5K.

“There are 352 people registered coming from the Napa Valley,” La Sala said, “so about 8 percent (of the field), which is actually really great when you recognize what small towns the Valley is comprised of.”

The full marathon will start at 7:30 a.m. in Calistoga on Silverado Trail near Rosedale Road. The half marathon starts on Silverado Trail at Conn Creek Winery in St. Helena at 7 a.m., and the 5K run starts at Vintage High School in Napa at 7:15 a.m.

All races will also finish at Vintage High School. The half marathon award ceremony is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. while the marathon’s will be at 12:30 p.m.

Sunday will also be one of the coolest days temperature-wise all week. The high is forecast to be 59 and the low at 39, according to accuweather.com, which also says it will be “mostly cloudy and cool.” The forecast also says that the chance of rain will be 25 percent.

Twenty-one countries and 47 American states will be represented on Sunday. La Sala said there are “many” entrants from the Bay Area as well as from across the rest of California. She also added that they’ve had sign-ups from New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom, to name a few.

“We’re excited to showcase the Napa Valley to them,” she said.

While this is the largest field ever seen for this event, La Sala did concede that the marathon won’t feature as many elite entrants as it has in the past. That’s because the U.S. Marathon Olympic Trials are being held in Atlanta, Georgia, this weekend, as well, and most of the country’s premier distance runners will be competing there.

But this also opened up the opportunity for more casual runner to enter the races. La Sala feels the introduction of the half marathon last year has turned more people on to running in the Valley. She also feels the addition of the event has had a positive impact not just on this event but the community as a whole.

In 2018, the total turnout for the full marathon and the 5K was 1,686. In 2019, with the inclusion of the half marathon, that number skyrocketed to 4,403 – with 1,696 in the full, 2,102 in the half, and 605 in the 5K.

“Just seeing where it was even two years ago when it was a standalone event as a marathon and where it is now, and how we have more than doubled the field and we’re at 5,000 runners now, is just awesome,” La Sala said. “And as a local person who lives here, to see this transformation in such a short amount of time, like I said, we’re just so looking forward to Sunday.”

With this being the largest turnout for this event ever, La Sala said organizers are prepared for the increased numbers. There will be nine aid stations on the course – with a physician, physical therapist and a nurse present at each – along with enough aid supplies like water and energy gels to accommodate the field.

Dr. Crystal Hnatko, a sports medicine specialist at Kaiser Permanente in Vallejo, will serve as the medical director for this year’s race and will oversee all safety aspects of the event. With so few days left until the race, she said Tuesday there’s not much last-minute preparation that runners in the full and half marathons can really undertake other than to rest and not deviate from their training routines.

“I would say the most important thing is don’t do anything new,” she said. “Stick with what you’ve done in the past. Don’t change your shoelaces, don’t change your shoes, don’t change your socks. Keep doing what you were doing for your training, and that includes your eating habits, your drinking habits, your bowel habits – everything should be more or less how you prepared and how you were training for this race.”

While La Sala did say that organizers will be prepared to handle the largest field in event history on Sunday, she added that there are certain aspects they won’t be able to predict until race day.

“I think one of the biggest tests for us is going be the bussing procedures for how people are getting to both start lines and what the car drop-off situation is, especially coming into Conn Creek Winery on Conn Creek Road,” she said. “It’s going to get congested; we know that, so we kind of have some plans on how we’re going to make that work. … It’s going to be kind of one-way traffic to Rutherford Road and out.”

Still, La Sala said, the growth of the event as a whole is seen as positive and that she and the board of the directors want to continue to expand the field, but at a reasonable rate.

“We want to be careful and to grow in a way that we can continue to manage it as well as it always has been,” she said.

*La Sala estimated there will be about 1,000 volunteers helping with all aspects of the event, including manning the aid stations, helping staff the expo on Saturday and and monitoring the course on Sunday.

*The marathon’s annual health and fitness expo and speaker series will be from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Napa Valley Marriott. This year’s scheduled VIP guest speaker is Emma Coburn, a world champion and Olympian steeplechaser. She’ll be joined by former ENews host Catt Sadler and Conn Creek Winery head winemaker Elizabeth DeLouise-Gant for a panel titled “Grit and Passion: The Keys to Success.”

*A shakeout run will be held prior to the expo. The event is free and Coburn will be running with the group. Those interested should meet at the lobby of the Marriot at 8:15 a.m. The run will begin promptly at 8:30 a.m.

*For more information about the expo or Sunday’s races, visit napavalleymarathon.org.