Cleveland Marathon 10K — F60-64: Procaccio Dominates in the Wind and Humidity

• Laura Procaccio (63, Cuyahoga Falls) won the F60-64 age group in 1:07:26 at a 10:51/mi clip — a full 3:36 clear of runner-up Mary Beth Peot.
• The podium was tight at the top after Procaccio: Peot (1:11:02) and Shelley Broadbent (1:11:52) were separated by just 50 seconds, with Miriam Ricketts (1:13:18) and Pamela Smith (1:13:58) making it a genuinely competitive top five within two minutes of each other.
• Lorraine Miller and Sherry Phillips finished 14th and 15th in 1:51:55 and 1:51:56 respectively — one second apart after more than 110 minutes of racing.
• Fiona Larbi (60, Havre De Grace, MD) closed the field in 2:01:44, matching Holly Noble's displayed time of 2:01:39 to the eye but crossing the line just behind her in 17th.

Seventeen women in the F60-64 age group toed the line in Cleveland on a muggy, breezy Sunday — 67°F with 83% humidity and a 15 mph wind that made every mile feel a touch longer than advertised. Laura Procaccio, 63, from nearby Cuyahoga Falls, made none of that matter. She ran 1:07:26 at 10:51 per mile, a pace that put her in a class of her own and left the rest of the field chasing daylight from early on.

Behind Procaccio, the real drama was a two-tiered battle. Mary Beth Peot and Shelley Broadbent — both 61, representing Cleveland and Sarasota respectively — ran within a minute of each other to claim second and third, while Miriam Ricketts and Pamela Smith (both 64) rounded out the top five within 40 seconds of one another. That cluster of four women between 1:11:02 and 1:13:58 made for a compelling chase race even if the winner was never in doubt.

Deeper in the field, the most striking finish came from Lorraine Miller and Sherry Phillips. After nearly two hours on the roads of Cleveland in that sticky, wind-buffeted air, they crossed in 1:51:55 and 1:51:56 — a single second separating 14th from 15th. It's the kind of gap that a single headwind gust can explain, and a reminder that the competition in this age group runs all the way to the back of the pack.