Cleveland Half Marathon M60-64: Che Dominates a Deep 66-Man Field

• Chundao Che won the M60-64 group in 1:35:01 (7:15/mi), finishing more than 4 minutes 38 seconds clear of second place — the largest gap on the podium.
• Philip Manning (1:39:39) and Anthony Ting (1:41:58) separated the second and third spots by 2:19, while Craig Pulling and Jim Capron fought a fierce duel for fourth and fifth, finishing 7 seconds apart at 1:42:38 and 1:42:45.
• Pulling was the biggest mover in the top five, surging from well back in the men's field early on to crack the top 250 men by the finish — the strongest late charge of the group.
• 66 men aged 60–64 finished on a warm, humid Cleveland morning (75°F, 68% humidity) — conditions that made every second earned feel like two.

Chundao Che, 63, of Northville, MI, ran a controlled and commanding race from start to finish. His 7:15/mi average held firm across 13.1 miles, and his move through the men's field — climbing steadily from 168th to 121st among men by the 10K mark and holding that position to the line — tells the story of a runner who found his pace early and never let anyone challenge it. The nearest rival, Philip Manning of Cleveland, crossed in 1:39:39, and by that point Che had been done for nearly five minutes.

Manning and Anthony Ting, both 63, ran their own composed races for second and third. Manning moved cleanly through the men's field across all splits; Ting's numbers showed a slightly more uneven rhythm — drifting back a touch in the men's standings through the middle miles before steadying — but he still secured the bronze in 1:41:58.

The most dramatic subplot belonged to Craig Pulling of Painesville. Starting conservatively — he was 459th among men at the early checkpoint — Pulling reeled in runner after runner, posting the 137th-fastest split in the field on the 12.6M-to-finish stretch to climb all the way to 249th among men at the line. That late surge was just enough to edge Jim Capron by seven seconds for fourth. Behind them, Steve Locy rounded out the top six in 1:44:47 before a sizeable gap opened to the rest of the field.