Rocket City Marathon F65-69: Gossman Conquers the Cold for the Win

• Melissa Gossman took the F65-69 title in 4:29:52 (10:18/mi), the only finisher in the group to break 4:30.
• Elaine Sillivant ran the strongest finish of the four, posting the 170th-fastest women's split from 20M to the finish to close within 4:17 of Gossman.
• Lisa Nisi and Vicki Sue Merry both rallied over the final 10K — Nisi's 20M→Finish split ranked 324th among women, Merry's 476th — each moving up through the women's field in the closing miles.
• All four women completed 26.2 miles in 29°F with a 16 mph wind — conditions that would humble runners half their age.

Twenty-nine degrees and a stiff wind greeted Huntsville on race morning, and the F65-69 group answered with four finishes ranging from 4:29 to 6:47. Melissa Gossman of Ormond Beach set the tone from the gun, running a disciplined 10:18-per-mile pace that held up across all four splits. Her gender place dipped from 171st at the half to 213th at 20 miles before she reeled it back to 212th at the line — a sign of a runner who managed the cold and the wind without ever fully unraveling.

Elaine Sillivant, racing on home turf in Huntsville, had a tougher middle stretch — she sat 274th among women at the half — but her closing leg told a different story. That 170th-fastest women's split from 20M to the finish represents genuine late-race strength, and it trimmed Gossman's margin to just over four minutes. It wasn't quite enough to catch the leader, but it was the most eye-catching segment performance in the group.

Lisa Nisi made her own quiet move over the final miles, climbing from 439th to 377th among women between the half and the finish. Vicki Sue Merry, the group's only 68-year-old, covered the course in 6:47:17 — a 15:32-per-mile pace that kept her moving forward and climbing through the women's field all the way to the tape. In weather that punished anyone who went out too fast, all four women finishing is the story worth telling.