Rocket City Half Marathon M65-69: Lenser dominates, Tennessee trio leads the charge

• Kurt Lenser won the M65-69 age group in 1:40:20 — a 7:39/mi pace that put nearly 28 minutes between him and 2nd place.
• The top three finishers all hail from Tennessee, with Franklin, Livingston, and Lebanon represented on the podium.
• The closest battle of the day: Tim McCune (2:28:06) and Ekkehard Bonatz (2:29:35) were separated by just 89 seconds at the line.
• Bonatz, at 69 the oldest in the group, outran McCune to the 10K mark before ultimately finishing 5th — 89 seconds back.

Kurt Lenser made the M65-69 race his own from start to finish. The 66-year-old from Franklin, TN, crossed in 1:40:20 at a 7:39/mi clip — a pace that would be competitive in fields half his age. His nearest challenger, John West of Livingston, TN, finished in 2:08:09, meaning Lenser had nearly 28 minutes in hand. That kind of margin isn't a race; it's a statement.

West held 2nd comfortably, finishing at 9:47/mi, while Edward Russell of Lebanon, TN, rounded out the podium in 2:13:27 — a 5-minute, 18-second gap back to West. Russell was the one mover of the trio, gaining four spots in the broader men's field between the 10K mark and the finish, suggesting he found another gear in the back half.

The real drama in the M65-69 group played out at the back of the field, where McCune and Bonatz — both Alabama locals — ran a tight shadow race. McCune held the edge at the 10K checkpoint, sitting one spot ahead of Bonatz in the men's field, but neither could shake the other. In the end, McCune's 2:28:06 held off Bonatz's 2:29:35 by just 89 seconds across 13.1 miles. At 69, Bonatz was the eldest of all five finishers and made him work for every second of that gap.

Five finishers, five stories — but on a mild December morning in Huntsville, it was Lenser who turned the M65-69 age group into a one-man time trial.