F65-69 Marathon: Stemer leads wire-to-wire in Cleveland heat

• Anniebee Stemer, 69, wins the F65-69 group in 4:38:23 (10:37/mi), finishing 31 minutes ahead of the runner-up.
• Dawn Weeks closes strong — her gender place improved from 554th at the first checkpoint to 426th at the finish, the most dramatic climb in the group.
• Beth Sersig (5:52:23) and Marie Bartoletti (6:02:52) separated by just over 10 minutes at the line, with Bartoletti the steadiest mover through the back half.
• Four women finished the F65-69 marathon on a warm, humid Cleveland morning — 75°F with 68% humidity making every mile a grind.

Anniebee Stemer of Fort Lauderdale was never seriously threatened. The 69-year-old held a gender-place position in the 270s through the first half, and while she drifted back into the 290s and 310s through the middle miles — a sign the heat was pressing — she rallied to close at 288th among all women, crossing in 4:38:23 at 10:37/mi. That's a commanding margin of 31 minutes over second place, and a win that never looked in doubt.

The more compelling drama unfolded behind her. Dawn Weeks of Floyd, VA ran a race of genuine progression. Starting deep in the women's field (554th at the first split), she reeled in runner after runner through every checkpoint — 531, 513, 466, 434, 426 — finishing in 5:09:23 at 11:48/mi. That kind of sustained forward momentum over 26.2 miles in this heat is a performance worth noting. She ran the 19.1M–22.5M segment as the 248th-fastest among all women, just a tick behind Stemer's 238th-fastest on that same stretch — meaning Weeks was actually making up ground on the leader in the late miles, even if the gap on the clock was never close enough to matter.

Beth Sersig, racing at home in Cleveland Heights, finished third in 5:52:23 (13:26/mi). Her gender place slid steadily from 488th to 573rd, suggesting the back half of the course took its toll. Marie Bartoletti of Bethel Park, PA rounded out the group in 6:02:52 (13:50/mi), but ran a more composed second half — her gender place actually improved from 646th early on to 610th at the finish, a quiet show of resilience on a tough day.