Victor Shitsama crosses the finish line at 14th Street and San Jacinto Boulevard to win the men’s race of the 2026 Spurs Austin International Half Marathon on January 18, 2026 in Austin, Texas. Shitsama, who finished runner-up in the 2025 race, won with a time of 1:02:38. This year’s race featured a field of nearly 5,000 runners that finished.
Brom Hoban/Special to American-Statesman
Victor Shitsama and Paige Hofstad topped a field of nearly 5,000 runners in Sunday morning’s Spurs Austin International Half Marathon, taking advantage of the clear cold weather and fast downhill course to notch convincing victories in the men’s and women’s fiels.
Heading into the 13.1-mile race, Shitsama had a little score to settle. Last year, he finished second by a hair when former Texas Longhorns ace Haftu Knight outleaned him at the tape.
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“It was hard last year losing by a microsecond,” Shitsama said. “I came here this year for the win.”
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One year later, Victor Shitsama wins his race
Mission accomplished. Shitsama took it out fast right from the start on Stonelake Boulevard in north Austin, running 4:45-per-minute miles to pass the 5K mark in 14 minutes and 47 seconds, with former Texas State standout Johen Deleon right there with him. Noah Stevenson, who ran for Kansas State, and Michael Morris, the 2019 half-marathon winner, trailed some 30 seconds back.
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Shitsama and Deleon ran stride for stride in the lead, hitting the 10K mark on Great Northern Boulevard in a speedy 29:51. That’s when Shitsama—an Oklahoma State track and cross-country star who had just run a personal best of 1:02:05 at last week’s Houston Half Marathon, placing 28th in an extraordinarily deep elite field — began to pull away.
Paige Hofstad crosses the finish line at 14th Street and San Jacinto Boulevard to win the women’s race of the 2026 Spurs Austin International Half Marathon on January 18, 2026 in Austin, Texas. Hofstad won with a time of 1:12:50. This year’s race featured a field of nearly 5,000 runners that finished.
Brom Hoban/Special to American-Statesman
“I was still feeling last week’s race a little bit in my legs. I was hoping to run 1:01, so I was trying to push the pace a little earlier,” Shitsama said of the fast 10K split. By the time he passed the 15K mark (9.3 miles) on West 45th Street in 44:35, he was a good 300 meters ahead of Deleon.
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“We were kind of playing yo-yo back and forth through the first five or six miles,” Deleon said. “I was sitting on him for a bit, letting him to the work, but then he started to pull away. He was in my sights the entire time, but I just couldn’t reel him in. He’s a strong runner.”
Shitsama broke the tape on San Jacinto and 14th Street in 1:02:38, with Deleon taking second in 1:03:56. Stevenson grabbed third in 1:04:13, ahead of Morris’ 1:04:30.
Neck-and-neck race ends with a new event winner
In the women’s race, Hofstad and last year’s winner Allie Kieffer had a spirited duel, running together for much of the race. Hofstad, who ran for Georgetown University and then North Carolina as a graduate student, took it out at a 5:37 pace, with Kieffer right there with her. The pair passed through 5K together in 17:27.
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They were neck and neck though the 10K mark in 34:59 when Kieffer turned to Hofstad and asked, “Is it just the two of us?”
To which Hofstad answered, “Yeah, I knew it would be you.”
But Hofstad made a move at mile 10 just before Duval Street, opening up a gap that Kieffer couldn’t close.
“There was a slight uphill at mile 10, and I tried to put on a surge there and just hold on to it,” said Hofstad, a New Braunfels native who won the 2013 UIL Class 5A state cross-country title. “I’ve been training specifically for the half-marathon distance, and I knew Allie would be here today. I thought this would be a great race to start off the year.”
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Said Kieffer, who was coming back from a bout with the flu over Christmas: I knew Paige was feeling good. She made a move going uphill at mile 10 and at that point, I just held on to secure second place.”
Hofstad broke the tape in 1:12:50, with Kieffer nearly a minute back in 1:13:48. San Antonio-based triathlete Joy Gill took third in 1:15:05, just ahead of Boston’s Kelsie Vicknair 1:15:11.
Shitsama and Hofstad each took home $2,000 for their wins with second and third places earning $1,500 and $750, respectively. Race organizer Jack Murray, the oc-owner of High Five events, said this year’s race experienced about a 5% growth from last year. There were more than 6,000 registered runners, he said.
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“There were some pretty stiff headwinds last year, but this year there’s a slight tailwind. Perfect running weather,” Murray said.