Sports
Baltimore native Devin Horseman-Guy wins 2026 Running Festival marathon; women’s finish sparks confusion
Devin Horseman-Guy led the men’s marathon at the Baltimore Running Festival, while Nicole Shelton won the women’s race in a finish complicated by a mix-up at the ribbon. Baltimore runners also claimed the women’s half-marathon and third place in the women’s marathon.
Baltimore native Devin Horseman-Guy won the men’s marathon at the 2026 Baltimore Running Festival on Saturday, finishing the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 18 seconds.
Horseman-Guy, 27, crossed the finish line alone. Patrick Blair, 45, of Catonsville finished more than three minutes behind him, and Ryan Fan, 29, of Pikesville, took third in 2:32:21.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” Horseman-Guy said, describing the crowded final stretch on Pratt Street as his favorite part of the course.
The women’s marathon had a less straightforward finish. Nicole Shelton, 27, of Morristown, New Jersey, crossed the line 26 seconds ahead of Maeve Thistel, who had held a nearly three-minute lead at the 20-mile checkpoint. But Thistel reached the finish ribbon first and raised it overhead, apparently unaware Shelton had already won.
The confusion came as women’s half-marathon runners were also finishing. Shelton said she was exhausted and had not realized she was supposed to run through a ribbon. She finished in 2:53:06, based on the reported 26-second gap before Thistel’s 2:53:32 finish. Emma Puetz, 24, of Baltimore, placed third in 2:56:23.
“I was kind of delirious,” Shelton said, describing the final mile. “And all of a sudden, it was like, ‘Wait a second, that’s first place right in front of me.’”
Ainsley Pressl, 27, of Baltimore, had won the women’s half-marathon minutes earlier. The annual festival brought runners onto Baltimore’s streets for races including the marathon and half-marathon.