Cleveland Marathon 5K — F70-74: Pellegrin dominates in dominant fashion

• Joan Pellegrin (1st, 28:16) ran a 9:06/mi pace to win the F70-74 age group by a commanding 5:34 over runner-up Anne Wainright.
• Anne Wainright (2nd, 33:50) held off Marian Sutton by nearly 7 minutes, finishing at 10:53/mi.
• Marian Sutton (3rd, 40:32) and Geraldine Anthony (4th, 41:16) ran the closest battle of the day — just 44 seconds separated them across the 5K.
• Pamela Komer (5th, 48:12) and Barbara Tucky (6th, 48:16) were separated by just four seconds, the narrowest margin in the field.

Joan Pellegrin made the F70-74 race look like her personal training run. The 71-year-old from Cleveland covered the 5K at 9:06/mi, finishing in 28:16 — more than five and a half minutes clear of the field on a humid, breezy morning that made every second earned. With 15 mph winds and 83% humidity pressing down on runners, that kind of pace at 71 years old demands respect.

Behind Pellegrin, Anne Wainright of Westlake held second place comfortably at 33:50 (10:53/mi), but the real drama unfolded in the next tier. Marian Sutton (40:32, 13:03/mi) and Geraldine Anthony (41:16, 13:17/mi) waged the tightest sustained battle of the morning, with Sutton holding off the Shaker Heights 73-year-old by just 44 seconds — a gap that likely felt very small indeed over those final meters.

The fight for fifth was even tighter at the line. Parma's Pamela Komer crossed in 48:12 and Barbara Tucky of Pepper Pike followed in 48:16 — four seconds after 3.1 miles of racing. Barb Richardson of Kirtland rounded out the top seven in 52:26. The back of the field brought its own resolve: Carol Dalessandro (1:06:10), Rita Carfagna (1:09:25), and Mary Ann Bushak (1:09:52) all finished within three and a half minutes of each other, with Bushak closing out the F70-74 group in 1:09:52. Ten women, all 70 or older, finished a 5K on a tough weather day — that's the real headline.