Empfield Sets Course Record

The forecast for the 12th Orange County Half Marathon was a runner’s dream: cool and overcast. And for the first 45 minutes Sunday, the weather cooperated.

But then the sun broke through, and the temperature in Irvine felt more like mid-May than early November.

Julieanne Empfield of Vista won the women’s race in a course-record 1 hour 17 minutes 46 seconds and Wilhelm Gidabuday of Riverside won the men’s race in 1:09:39.

Both, however, had trouble with the heat.

“It definitely got warm at the end,” Empfield said. “I wasn’t getting enough water and was starting to dehydrate. “It wasn’t my intention to break the record, but to better my own personal best of 1:16:20. But I’ll take it.”

The closest finisher to Empfield was Newport Beach’s Kelly Flathers, who finished in 1:19:10.

Gidabuday took the lead from the outset and was never seriously challenged.

“The last three miles were tough because of the heat,” Gidabuday said. “The last mile, I looked back and saw [second-place finisher David Olds] behind me, but I knew I could hold him off.”

One of the inspiring highlights of the day was 57-year-old Aurora Ortiz of San Diego. Ortiz, legally blind, finished the race with the aid of a white cane and directions from other runners.