71-year old Jeannie Rice, Finishes Akron Half Marathon in Record Time for her age group clocking 1:37:07

The second race in the Akron Children's Hospital Akron Marathon Race Series included a record-setting performance. 

The Goodyear Half Marathon and 10K began at the normally closed-to-the-public Goodyear test track Saturday morning. When the course ended at Goodyear's Global Headquarters, 71-year old Jeannie Rice of Mentor unofficiallly broke the world record for her age group with a half-marathon time of 1:37:07. 

"And I see the times and I know I had it. I finish and I told a couple ladies who were there, ‘I did it! I made a world record!’ It was a great feeling."

Rice said she's been running for 35 years and has never been impeded by an injury. She's completed a number of races and will run in the full Akron marathon in September. She typically runs 15 miles a week but has upped that to 60 miles per week to prepare for the marathon. 

More than 2,500 athletes, both runners and walkers, participated in the event, which was sold out. Dylan Garritano from Akron and Emma McCarron from Mansfield were the respective winners in the men’s and women’s races, finishing at 1:10:20 and 1:23:12. The 10k titles were taken by Nathaniel Hunter Moore from Uniontown and Lydia Hochstein from Cleveland finishing in 33:14 and 39:13.

The Goodyear Half Marathon & 10k welcomed runners from 25 states, with ages 11 to 80 competing.

More than 450 Goodyear associates laced up to run or volunteered at the day’s event. The FirstEnergy Akron Marathon, Half Marathon, and Team Relay — will follow the blue line through the streets of Akron on September 28, 2019.

The partnership between the Akron Marathon and Akron Children’s Hospital has raised more than $1.68 million to care for the region’s children since 2016.

posted Tuesday August 13th
by Sarah Taylor