FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ARNSTEIN AND COORDT CLAIM VICTORIES AT
KAISER PERMANENTE NAPA VALLEY MARATHON
Coordt Earns Record Fourth Victory
NAPA, Calif. - March 7, 2010 - Michael Arnstein, 33, of New York, NY and
Mary Coordt, 40, of Elk Grove, Calif. garnered wins today at the 32nd
Annual Kaiser Permanente Napa Valley Marathon (NVM). They topped a
capacity crowd of approximately 2,300 runners who enjoyed perfect
weather for marathon running during their 26.2-mile journey through the
picturesque Napa Valley wine growing country. Cool, windless conditions
under clear skies dotted by colorful hot air balloons helped numerous
runners score personal records on the fast, rolling marathon course from
Calistoga to Napa. The 2010 NVM served as the Road Runners Club of
America's Western Regional Marathon Championship race.
Arnstein's winning time was 2 hours, 31 minutes, and 26 seconds. Coordt
crossed the finish line at Vintage High School in 2:46:08 and added a
fourth NVM women's victory to her resume, the most ever by a woman at
NVM. Coordt also won NVM in 1997, 2005, and 2009.
Arnstein, who owns a small, New York-based software company, improved
upon a runner-up finish in this race in 2008. He has won several of the
40 marathons he has raced, including last year's New Jersey Marathon.
Kenneth Burgess, 29, of Piedmont, Calif. led for almost ten miles of the
men's race as Arnstein was content to stick about 20 seconds back.
Burgess, a naval engineer in the U.S. Coast Guard, was coming off a
cross country season that culminated at the U.S. Armed Forces National
Cross Country Championships in Spokane, Wash. last month.
"I'm coming off running pretty quick miles in cross country, so my
initial 5:45 per mile pace seemed slow to me," said Burgess, "but after
13 or 14 miles I could feel the pace kind of creep up on me."
Once Arnstein took the lead, he didn't relinquish it. Although he
emerged as the winner, he missed a longtime goal.
"I've been on a quest to break 2:30 in the marathon for a very long
time, about ten years," Arnstein said. "I was on pace for about 23
miles. After that the wheels kind of fell off. The mind wants to go, but
the body doesn't respond. I always get really close. Always, I'm pushing
myself as hard as I can."
Several feet from the finish line, Arnstein kneeled to the ground and
bowed his head for several seconds to reflect on his race. Burgess
finished second in 2:40:16, a personal record time. Donald Courter, 34,
of Mountain View, Calif. was third in 2:44:19, a five-minute PR.
"This was a surprisingly fast course for me," said Courter after
competing in his first NVM.
Arnstein, also, went home pleased, despite narrowly missing his race goal.
"I'm extremely excited. It's been a dream of mine to win this race,"
Arnstein said. "The event is super high class. If you want the highest
quality marathon, the most beautiful scenery, the absolute best
organization, you come here. It's by far the best marathon in the United
States outside of the Boston Marathon. It's the kind of race that I want
to come back to every year."
In the women's race, Coordt was initially accompanied by Abigail Larson
(age 30, Salt Lake City, Utah) and Meghan Arbogast (48, Corvallis,
Ore.). By ten miles, the contest was between Coordt and Arbogast. Last
October, Coordt qualified for her fourth U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon
Trials race while running a 2:45:00 PR at the USA Women's Marathon
Championships in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn. She plans on running the
2012 Trials in Houston. Arbogast, an accomplished ultra marathoner and a
three-time Marathon Trials qualifier, was looking for a sub-2:46:00 time
at Napa that would also qualify her for the 2012 Trials. So, the pair
worked together.
"I told Meghan 'I'll try to run 6:19 minute (per mile) pace as long as I
can with you,'" said Coordt who had planned to run only 20 miles of the
race because she is pointing towards the Two Oceans Ultramarathon in
Cape Town, South Africa on April 3rd. "At 20 miles I felt really good,
and my husband wasn't there to pick me up. So, I was getting excited
about helping Meghan to a qualifier, and decided to keep going."
When Arbogast fell off Trials qualifying pace at 23 miles, Coordt
jettisoned to the lead. "I was suffering a little bit more than I wanted
at that point," Arbogast said. "My legs were just tired out. I knew at
that point that it was going to be really tough to make the Trials
qualifying standard."
Arbogast finished 34 seconds behind Coordt, in 2:46:42, earning second
place honors. Yiou Wang (24, Mill Valley, Calif.) ran strongly over the
last several miles, and captured third place in 2:55:00, a personal
record. Molly Friel (42, Fresno, Calif.) and Abigail Larson, the early
co-leader who is a two-time winter Olympian in cross country skiing,
followed in 2:57:50 and 3:00:42 respectively for fourth and fifth places.
Among masters (40 years and older runners), Robert Evans (43, Pollock
Pines, Calif.) garnered the men's masters win in 2:46:40. Coordt, 40,
earned women's top masters honors.
Chris Houde (50, Carmichael, Calif.) won the men's wheelchair division
in 2:22:05. There were no female wheelchair participants.
In the accompanying, Kiwanis 5K Fun Run, Brian Collett (25, San Lorenzo,
Calif.) was the men's winner in 16:55 and Michelle Lines (28, Chicago,
Ill.) was first among women in 19:45.
Full race results for the Kaiser Permanente Napa Valley Marathon are
available on the event's web site at www.napavalleymarathon.org.
All proceeds from the Napa Valley Marathon (a non-profit organization)
are donated to local charities in the Napa Valley.
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