M30-34: David Too Dominates in Huntsville's Frozen Miles

• David Too won the M30-34 group in 2:34:44 (5:54/mi), finishing more than 2 minutes 25 seconds clear of runner-up Dalton Linkus.
• Dalton Linkus ran the 6th-fastest closing split (20M→Finish) among the men to secure 2nd in 2:37:09.
• Andrew O'Neill and Clay Rice crossed in 2:42:18 and 2:42:20 — just two seconds apart after 26.2 miles — for 3rd and 4th respectively.
• Michael Volz rounded out the top five in 2:43:17, with the top five all finishing within nine minutes of each other despite 29°F temperatures and a 16 mph wind.

With 160 finishers in the M30-34 group, the 2025 Rocket City Marathon served up some serious cold-weather racing. At the front, David Too was never truly threatened. The Tallahassee native opened near the top of the men's field and, despite slipping from 1st to 4th in the men's overall standings across the back half, he was untouchable within his age group — running 5:54/mi through freezing air and biting wind to win by more than two and a half minutes. His 10K-to-half split ranked 2nd-fastest among the men in that stretch, a sign he was already pressing hard well before the race's decisive miles.

Behind Too, Dalton Linkus of Nashville ran a composed, progressive race — moving from 12th to 7th in the men's field across the course of the day. His 20M-to-finish split was the 6th-fastest among the men, meaning he was accelerating while others were battling the cold and the distance. He crossed in 2:37:09 to lock up 2nd in M30-34 comfortably.

The real drama came one step lower on the podium. Andrew O'Neill (Chattanooga) and Clay Rice (Hoover, AL) both clocked 6:11/mi and finished in 2:42:18 and 2:42:20 — two seconds the difference between 3rd and 4th after more than two hours of racing. Both men ran strong closing legs, posting the 12th- and 13th-fastest 20M-to-finish splits among the men, but O'Neill had just enough to hold Rice off. Michael Volz, another Madison local, was close behind in 5th at 2:43:17, making it a genuinely tight cluster from 3rd through 5th — all within 59 seconds.