Sunday’s Golden Gate Half Marathon brought in runners from all over the country and world, but a San Francisco runner came in first among nonbinary participants.

A Swiss runner won the annual race this year in San Francisco, finishing in 1 hour, 10 minutes and 24 seconds. Christian Mathys flew to the Bay Area from Switzerland and outpaced everyone by pushing through the pain.

“It was a very cool race with some nice spectators,” Mathys said in a statement released by the event’s organizers, Motiv Sports. “I hit my pace exactly the first half. That was easy. Then it got harder and harder with all the hills. My legs were getting tired, but I pushed through.”

Mathys edged out another man named Christian — Torrance resident Christian Moreno, who came in second with 1 hour, 11 minutes and 35 seconds. Third place went to Lupe Palalia from San Jose, who came in at 1 hour, 13 minutes and 35 seconds, beating his own time from the 2022 Golden Gate Half Marathon of 1 hour, 18 minutes and 5 seconds.

The fastest woman on Sunday was Massachusetts runner Anya Cheng, who clocked 1 hour, 29 minutes and 7 seconds.

“I’m dedicating it to the people I ran with,” Cheng said.

“I run this route a lot. I knew the hills were coming. … It’s a challenging course, but I like a challenge.”
JL Odom, San Francisco runner

She was followed by Mackenzie Deeter from Santa Cruz at 1 hour, 32 minutes and 36 seconds, then Danish runner Bernadette Christelle Mortensen with 1 hour, 32 minutes and 46 seconds.

Among nonbinary runners, San Francisco’s JL Odom came in first at 1 hour, 25 minutes and 53 seconds.

“I run this route a lot,” Odom said. “I knew the hills were coming. I try to go fast on the flat parts and the downhill. From there, with the hills, I gave it what I could. It’s a challenging course, but I like a challenge.”

The event brought about 7,500 entrants, organizers said, and was co-sponsored by the American Cancer Society. In all, the run raised more than $85,000 for cancer research.

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.