Cleveland Marathon 10K — M65-69: Silverman Dominates with a Sub-47 Minute Blitz

• Alex Silverman won the M65-69 age group in 46:51 (7:32/mi), nearly three minutes clear of runner-up Abdul Sawah.
• The top four finishers — Silverman through Webster — all broke 54 minutes, while a significant gap opened to 5th place Steve Byrne at 1:02:08.
• Glenn Johnson, 69, and Keith Winkler, also 69, were the eldest finishers in the group, crossing in 1:28:11 and 1:33:51 respectively.
• Kevin Winkler (Sterling, OH) and Keith Winkler (Sterling, OH) both represented the same hometown — likely making for a memorable shared finish line moment.

Alex Silverman, 68, making the trip from Oakhurst, CA, was simply in a different race. His 46:51 — a 7:32-per-mile clip through 67°F air with 15 mph winds and 83% humidity — was the kind of performance that makes the rest of the field shake their heads. He finished nearly three minutes ahead of fellow 68-year-old Abdul Sawah of Grafton, OH, who crossed in 49:45. David Hammar (Ocala, FL) rounded out the podium in 50:34, and those three covered the first three spots with genuine separation between each of them.

The real story of the front pack, though, is how cleanly the top four separated from the rest of the field. John Webster of Fairview Park, OH, ran a solid 53:46 to take 4th, but after him came an 8-minute gap to Steve Byrne at 1:02:08. That gulf effectively split the 21-man age group into two races: a competitive front quartet and a second wave where the battle was about endurance and grit in tough conditions.

Through the middle and back of the field, the racing stayed honest. Paul Rasmussen and Joseph Beyer were separated by just 15 seconds — 1:09:58 to 1:10:13 — in 8th and 9th. At the back, Sanjay Garg of Westlake, OH, finished 20th in 1:49:53, grinding through a 17:41-per-mile pace in conditions that weren't doing anyone any favors. Every finisher here earned it on a humid, breezy Cleveland morning.