M65-69 Marathon: Gaysunas Dominates a Hard Day in Cleveland

• Kevin Gaysunas (66, Westerville) won the M65-69 group in 3:54:17 — an 8:56/mi average — more than 23 minutes clear of runner-up Joseph Willis.
• Willis (68, Shaker Heights) held 2nd in 4:17:52, finishing a steady race that saw him climb from 717th to 581st among men in the final stretch.
• A 2:33:16 gap separates 2nd from 6th — the M65-69 field of six was spread wide across a warm, humid Cleveland afternoon.
• Gaysunas posted the 275th-fastest split in the field on the 22.5M-to-finish closing stretch, a strong surge to end the race.

Kevin Gaysunas ran the kind of race that makes a result look inevitable — except it wasn't. He entered the back half sitting 425th among men at the halfway checkpoint, then steadily reeled in competitors, climbing to 356th by the finish. At 8:56 per mile across 26.2 miles on a 75°F, humid morning, that's a controlled, disciplined effort that held together when others around him faded. His closing split — 275th-fastest in the entire field on the final 3.7 miles — was the exclamation point.

Joseph Willis ran a quietly impressive race of his own. The 68-year-old from Shaker Heights was remarkably consistent, drifting only modestly through the middle miles before finishing strong and climbing well into the top 600 among men. His 4:17:52 at 9:50/mi was a clear and comfortable hold on 2nd in the M65-69 group.

Behind the top two, the story was one of a long, grinding day. Carl Guendelsberger (68, Vermilion) and Jay Morehart (65, Findlay) both crossed in the 5:30s, separated by under seven minutes, while John Weisensell (67, Cuyahoga Falls) and Ronald Ross (67, Medina) rounded out the six-man field past the six-hour mark. The heat and humidity that made this a tough day for everyone showed clearly in the back of the M65-69 group — but all six crossed the finish line, which on a day like this is its own kind of result.