F75-79: Jennie Rice Owns Cleveland's Oldest Women's Half

• Jennie Rice, 78, wins F75-79 in 1:50:13 — an 8:24/mi average across 13.1 miles in 75°F heat.
• Maggie Savoy, 79, finishes 2nd in 3:07:44, completing the half marathon at a 14:19/mi average.
• Rice's strongest segment: her 5K→10K split ranked 148th-fastest among all women in the field — a genuine mid-race push.
• A 1:17:31 gap separated the two finishers, but both crossed the line in conditions that would test runners of any age.

The F75-79 age group brought just two finishers to the start line in Cleveland, but Jennie Rice made sure the group had a story worth telling. The 78-year-old from Painesville ran a composed, consistent race at 8:24 per mile, finishing in 1:50:13. Her strongest moment came in the 5K-to-10K stretch, where she posted the 148th-fastest women's split in the entire field — a real show of competitive pace in the heart of the race, on a warm morning with 68% humidity adding to the challenge.

Rice's gender placement tells an interesting tale of the race's ebbs and flows. She moved up from 159th to 150th among women through the 10K mark on the strength of that mid-race split, before settling back as the field sorted itself out over the final miles, finishing 165th among women. That arc — surge, then steady — reflects a runner who knew when to push.

Maggie Savoy, 79 and from Elyria, completed her own half marathon journey in 3:07:44, walking or running 13.1 miles at 14:19 per mile through the same warm conditions. Her 10K-to-12.6-mile split was the 2,126th-fastest women's split on that segment — a measure of just how deep and competitive the women's field was around her. Savoy climbed steadily through the women's standings across the first half of the race before holding her position to the finish, ending 2,168th among women.

Two women in their late 70s, finishing a half marathon in the Cleveland heat — the gap between them was wide, but the accomplishment belongs to both.