Cleveland Marathon 5K — F65-69: Betty Erwin Edges Out a Hard-Fought Win

• Betty Erwin, 69, wins in 34:17 (11:02/mi), holding off Dawn Weeks by just 13 seconds in a tight battle at the front.
• Dawn Weeks, 67, of Floyd, VA finishes 2nd in 34:30 (11:06/mi) — close, but Erwin's slightly brisker pace held through to the line.
• Annemarie Weisbarth rounds out the podium in 3rd with a 36:21 (11:42/mi), a comfortable 1:51 clear of 4th place.
• 22 finishers tackled the course under humid, breezy Cleveland conditions — 67°F with 83% humidity and a 15 mph wind that made every second count.

The F65-69 race at the 2026 Cleveland Marathon 5K came down to a genuine contest at the front, with Betty Erwin of Port Clinton, OH claiming the win in 34:17. At 69 years old — the oldest athlete on the podium — Erwin ran 11:02/mi to hold off a determined challenge from Dawn Weeks, who crossed in 34:30. Thirteen seconds over 3.1 miles is a real margin, not a formality, and Erwin earned every one of them.

Weeks, 67, making the trip from Floyd, VA, ran 11:06/mi — slightly slower than Erwin's pace, but close enough to keep the outcome in question. Third place went to Middleburg Heights native Annemarie Weisbarth, 68, who finished in 36:21 at 11:42/mi. The top three were notably clustered ahead of the rest of the field, with 4th-place Ethel Stowers of Cleveland finishing in 41:32 — more than five minutes back.

The conditions were no small factor: humidity sat at 83% and a 15 mph wind pushed through Cleveland, making the 11:02 pace Erwin held all the more impressive. Behind the podium, the field spread out across a wide range of finishing times, from Donna Hopkins in 5th at 42:33 to Rosalie Gibson in 20th at 1:09:10, with 20 individually listed finishers and two more rounding out the 22-strong group. Every one of them got after it on a tough morning.