M60-64: Ashmun Pulls Away Late to Claim Cleveland

• Robert Ashmun won the M60-64 group in 3:39:03 (8:21/mi), finishing nearly 1:30 ahead of runner-up Rich Power.
• Rich Power (3:40:29, 8:25/mi) held a strong early position but faded in the back half, while Ashmun climbed steadily through the men's field over the final miles.
• A 27-minute gap separates 2nd place from 3rd — Andre Prochoroff (4:08:20) and Frank Reagan (4:10:03) ran the closest battle of the day, separated by just 1:43.
• All 28 finishers crossed in conditions that turned demanding: 75°F, 68% humidity — a warm day by Cleveland marathon standards.

Robert Ashmun of Summit, NJ, didn't just win the M60-64 group — he ran the whole back half of the race better than nearly anyone around him. His gender place tells the story: he sat 452nd among men at 5K, then steadily climbed to 229th by the finish, passing hundreds of runners over the final miles. His closing split from 22.5M to the finish ranked among the strongest in the entire women's field at that stage, a sign that while others were fading in the heat, Ashmun was still pressing. The 8:21/mi average across 26.2 miles on a warm, humid morning is a performance worth noting.

Rich Power of Rochester, MI, ran the opposite arc. He was positioned 191st among men at the 5K mark — a strong early stance — but drifted back through the field as the miles accumulated, eventually finishing 239th among men. His 8:25/mi average still earned him a clear 2nd in M60-64 at 3:40:29, but the 1:26 gap to Ashmun reflected a race where the winner got stronger and Power could not quite match that trajectory.

The fight for 3rd was the day's most compelling subplot. Andre Prochoroff (Shaker Heights, OH) and Frank Reagan (Chagrin Falls, OH) ran side by side in spirit if not in stride — Prochoroff crossed in 4:08:20, Reagan in 4:10:03, just 1:43 apart after more than four hours of racing in the heat. Gregory Miller (4:13:20) rounded out the top five, with Gary Kulis (4:17:26) and Scott Stocker (4:21:06) close behind. The field spread out considerably from there, with John Edwards Jr. reaching 5:22:00 in 20th — a testament to the conditions and the grit it takes to finish a marathon at any pace on a day like this.