40th Annual Napa Valley Marathon Set For Sunday

NAPA VALLEY, CA — Road closures will be in place Sunday as more than 1,500 runners descend on Napa Valley for the 40th annual Kaiser Permanente Napa Valley Marathon. The prestigious 26-mile race kicks off early Sunday morning in Calistoga. From there the course takes competitors down Silverado Trail, with the finish line at Vintage High School in north Napa.

Among the athletes from some 44 states and 16 countries slated to compete is marathon legend Joan Benoit Samuelson, who won the gold medal in the women's marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics despite the hot, miserable smoggy conditions during the games in Los Angeles.

From noon to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Benoit Samuelson, 60, will serve as the keynote speaker for the annual Kaiser Permanente Napa Valley Marathon College, a speaker/seminar program with a "faculty" composed of respected running authorities and celebrity runners.

The seminar is among festivities taking place Friday and Saturday as part of KP-NVM’s Sports and Fitness Expo at Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa.

Devon Yanko, who has won the Napa Valley Marathon women's title three times, is also returning to this year's event. On Sunday, she will attempt to win her fourth women's title — a feat only one runner, Mary Coordt, of Elk Grove, has accomplished in the event's 40-year history.

School buses will transport runners from Napa hotels to the starting line in the early-morning hours.

RACE-RELATED ROAD CLOSURES

Silverado Trail will be closed to through traffic from Calistoga to Oak Knoll Avenue in the morning hours but will reopen later in the day.

According to an advisory from Napa County Public Works, the race begins at 5:30 a.m. at the Calistoga city limits. The course will take participants along Silverado Trail, Oak Knoll Avenue, Big Ranch Road and El Centro Avenue to the finish line at Vintage High School.

From the Calistoga city limits to Yountville Crossroad, runners will be contained within the southbound lane, which will be closed; this segment will be open to CHP-escorted northbound traffic. Silverado Trail from Yountville Crossroad to Oak Knoll Avenue, and the rest of the race course along Oak Knoll — Big Ranch and El Centro — will be closed to traffic between the hours of 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

More information about the event is posted at Napavalleymarathon.org.

Al Francis contributed to this report.

Photo by Al Francis/Napasonomaphotos.com