Rocket City Marathon F30-34: Jampel Runs Away With It in the Cold

• Sarah Jampel won the F30-34 age group in 3:08:43 (7:12/mi), finishing 10th among all women — the class of the field from start to finish.
• Kathryn Iwasaki closed hard over the final 10K, posting the 16th-fastest women's split on the 20M→Finish stretch to pull clear for 2nd in 3:14:18.
• Jessica Ridley and Rebekah Lofgren finished 3rd and 4th separated by just 7 seconds — 3:17:47 to 3:17:54 — both running 7:33/mi averages.
• Eryn Queen entered the top 20 women by the 10K mark but faded across the second half, slipping from 11th among women to 18th by the finish.

Twenty-nine degrees, a 16 mph wind, and clear Alabama skies greeted 72 finishers in the F30-34 age group at Rocket City, and Sarah Jampel of East Thetford, Vermont treated the conditions like a gift. She held 12th among the women at the first checkpoint, then steadily climbed — 11th, 11th, and finally 10th — crossing in 3:08:43 at a crisp 7:12 per mile. Her 10th-fastest women's split over the final 10K-plus stretch confirmed she wasn't just surviving the cold; she was racing through it.

Atlanta's Kathryn Iwasaki ran a mirror-image second half. She drifted back slightly through the middle miles — 17th among women at 10K, 18th at the half — before turning it on when it mattered most, climbing to 13th among women by the finish in 3:14:18. That late surge, backed by the 16th-fastest women's split from mile 20 to the line, was enough to claim a comfortable 2nd in the age group, more than five minutes clear of the pack behind her.

That pack delivered the race's sharpest drama. Peachtree City's Jessica Ridley and Atlanta's Rebekah Lofgren ran essentially the same race — both averaged 7:33 per mile, both posted strong 10K-to-half splits among the women's field, and both arrived at the finish within seven seconds of each other. Ridley took 3rd in 3:17:47, Lofgren 4th in 3:17:54. Behind them, Eryn Queen of Chattanooga had looked dangerous early — sitting 11th among women at 10K — but the back half told a different story, and she finished 5th in 3:20:11.