The Napa Valley Marathon 2020, has the largest field ever with over 5,000 entrants

the 42nd Annual Kaiser Permanente Napa Valley Marathon and Half Marathon, second-year Race Director Michelle La Sala has been busy putting the final touches on this year’s event.

“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.

“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.

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.

posted Thursday February 27th
by Gus Morris