Cleveland Marathon 10K — F45-49: Fritz Runs Away with It

• Kristy Fritz won the F45-49 age group in 43:43 (7:02/mi) — more than 7 minutes ahead of second place in a 56-woman field.
• Shauna Hanley (2nd, 50:51) and Jessica Marshall (3rd, 51:00) were separated by just 9 seconds after 6.2 miles — the closest battle on the podium.
• Natalie Lonczak (4th, 53:32) and Carrie Budzar (5th, 53:39) staged a nearly identical duel, finishing just 7 seconds apart.
• The top 20 spanned from 43:43 to 1:05:56, with 36 more women completing the field behind them.

Kristy Fritz, 45, of Bay Village, didn't just win the F45-49 age group at the 2026 Cleveland Marathon 10K — she dominated it. Her 43:43 at a 7:02/mi clip on a humid, breezy Cleveland morning was in a class of its own, finishing more than seven full minutes clear of the rest of the field. With 67°F temperatures, 83% humidity, and a 15 mph wind in the mix, that kind of sustained pace demands respect.

Behind her, the real racing was happening in tight clusters. Shauna Hanley of Centreville, VA crossed in 50:51 (8:11/mi) to claim second, with Jessica Marshall of Cleveland right on her heels at 51:00 (8:12/mi) — a 9-second gap after more than six miles of running. Hanley held the edge, but Marshall made her work for every second of it. Fourth and fifth played out almost identically: Natalie Lonczak (53:32, 8:37/mi) just held off Carrie Budzar (53:39, 8:38/mi) by seven seconds, the two Ohioans running nearly stride for stride to the finish.

The middle of the field brought another wave of competitive running, with Laura Neff (6th, 56:15) and Emily Collins (7th, 56:27) separated by just 12 seconds, and a tight pack of women — Sara Schmidt (8th, 58:59), Ashley Crays (9th, 59:20), Kirsten Bardwell (10th, 59:28), Charlena Hunt (11th, 59:35), and Amanda Storer (12th, 59:39) — all finishing within 40 seconds of each other across places 8 through 12. Fifty-six women finished the F45-49 age group, and from top to bottom, they earned every result on a day that didn't make anything easy.