A record and a repeat from Rochester-area runners at 2023 Wineglass Marathon

Version No. 42 of the Guthrie Wineglass Marathon belonged largely to the Rochester-area contingent, with Webster's Joe Whelan breaking last year's course record in winning the men's race and Lindsay Piraino of Rush repeating as women's champion on a sunny Sunday morning in Corning.

Whelan, 32, completed the 26.2-mile journey from Bath to Corning in 2 hours, 16 minutes, 57.67 seconds. The previous record of 2:17:57 was set last year by Philadelphia's Spencer Friske.

Piraino, 27, took the women's race in 2:44:50.49 to improve by seven minutes on last year's winning effort.

Winners of the Wegmans Half Marathon were Allie Guillard of State College, Pennsylvania, in the women's race in 1:18:46.73 and Ithaca's Giovanni Grano in the men's race in 1:06:35.14. Three of the top four men's finishers in the half are from Ithaca.

There were 2,700 registrants for the half marathon and 2,300 for the full marathon. Forty-eight states and numerous countries were represented.

Elmira native Molly Huddle, one of the most accomplished distance runners in American history, was special guest for the weekend, which included Saturday's Storflex 5K in Corning. Huddle, a two-time Olympian and 28-time American champion in road races and track, now lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Weather warmed into the 70s by early afternoon after cooler temperatures for the 7:45 a.m. half marathon start in Campbell. Marathon runners took off at 8:15.

Whelan made switch from half to full marathon

Whelan is a former running standout at Syracuse University who is originally from Hamburg in the Buffalo area. He initially planned to run the half marathon Sunday in preparation for next month's New York City Marathon. With the weather looking good, he made the switch.

"In 2021 I was supposed to run the full marathon and couldn't because I got injured, so I wanted to do it for a little bit of redemption," he said.

Along with New York on Nov. 5, Whelan will participate in the marathon trials for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics on Feb. 3 in Orlando, Florida. Whelan finished 28th in the Boston Marathon earlier this year in 2:18:23.

Whelan went out Sunday with other runners he assumed were trying to reach the 2:18 needed to join him at the Olympic trials.

"We went through the first half just under the Olympic standard and then right at the halfway mark I took off a little bit and then held a steady pace and ended up negative splitting by a little bit over a minute, I want to say," Whelan said.

"I knew I could help somebody try to get the Olympic trial standard and that would also be the course record pace."

This was the 21st marathon for Whelan, who off the top of his head counted seven victories. His goal at New York City is to break his personal record of 2:13:30.

Piraino better than ever at Wineglass

Sunday was the third Wineglass Marathon for Piraino, whose other career marathon victory came at the Buffalo Marathon in 2021.

She ran a 3:23 in 2019 at Wineglass and surged to 2:51 last year.

"It went really well," she said of Sunday's triumph. "My goal was to run about a 6:15 pace and I stuck with that pace pretty much the whole way."

The approach?

"Stick with your pace, don't go out too fast, like you would with any marathon," she said. "Today it got a little bit hotter near the end, so I think it was important to conserve early on."

Top finishers

Men's marathon: Joe Whelan (Webster) 2:16:58; 2-Roger Hopper (Chesapeake, Virginia) 2:21:51; 3-Alex Price (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) 2:25:42; 4-Chip O'Hara (Auburn) 2:33:28; 5-Tyler Morrissey (Clifton Park) 2:36:42; 6-Brad Sweigart (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania) 2:37:23; 7-Spencer Mahon (Lexington, Kentucky) 2:39:09; 8-Isaac Rubinstein (Seattle, Washington) 2:39:14; 9-Michael Heimes (West Reading, Pennsylvania) 2:39:33; 10-AJ Kelly (Altoona, Pennsylvania) 2:39:48.

Women's marathon: 1-Lindsay Piraino (Rush) 2:44:50; 2-Anne Elise Wester (Florahome, Florida) 2:46:41; 3-Macy McAdams (Massillon, Ohio) 2:52:10; 4-Laura Galeazzo (Webster) 2:54:07; 5-Laura Mooney (Denver, Colorado) 2:54:49; 6-Michaela White (Pittsburgh) 2:55:23; 7-Kim Thomas (Burlington, Ontario) 3:01:44; 8-Kristen Ryan (Reading, Massachusetts) 3:03:26; 9-Kimberly Mills (Oakfield) 3:03:29; 10-Angie Jenny (Grove City, Pennsylvania) 3:04:49.

Men's half marathon: 1-Giovanni Grano (Ithaca) 1:06:35; 2-Henry Williams (Ithaca) 1:08:23; 3-Ajay Sarathy (Boulder, Colorado) 1:08:41; 4-Max Jaffe (Ithaca) 1:10:06; 5-Luke O'Keefe (New York City) 1:10:18; 6-Christopher Bourke (Arlington, Virginia) 1:10:20; 7-Marc Lugo (Rochelle Park, New Jersey) 1:10:39; 8-Joseph Hunt (Denver) 1:10:40; 9-Evan Fallor (Arlington, Virginia) 1:11:46; 10-John Salva (Conklin) 1:12:00.

Women's half marathon: 1-Allie Guillard (State College, Pennsylvania) 1:18:46; 2-Teal Burrell (Henrico, Virginia) 1:20:13; 3-Lauren Perschetz (New York City) 1:20:32; 4-Mackenzie Lowe (East Aurora) 1:20:50; 5-Eileen Cody (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) 1:22:06; 6-Maura Knestout (Sykesville, Maryland) 1:22:18; 7-Emma Unterkoefler (Washington, D.C.) 1:22:54; 8-Betsy Suda (Gainesville, Florida) 1:24:53; 9-Rachel Bargabos (Canastota) 1:25:48; 10-Mollie Zapata (Annandale, Virginia) 1:26:11.

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This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Joe Whelan, Lindsay Piraino winners at Guthrie Wineglass Marathon