Rocket City Marathon M65-69: Bleau Runs Down the Field in the Cold

• Charlie Bleau wins in 3:46:33 (8:38/mi), a commanding 7:31 gap over runner-up Mike Gossman.
• Gossman's second half surged: he climbed from 507th to 326th among men across the race, the sharpest positional climb on the men's side in this group.
• Randy Kauftheil held 3rd in 4:05:30, finishing 11:26 clear of 4th-place Felix Buitrago — the second-largest gap on the podium.
• The back half of the field spread wide: from 7th (Kevin Brosnan, 4:52:51) to 13th (Xing Wu, 6:45:42), more than 1:52 separated the group's tail.

Twenty-nine degrees, a 16 mph wind, and clear Huntsville skies set the stage for a bracing December marathon — and Charlie Bleau of Decatur, GA ran it like the conditions suited him fine. Starting conservatively among the men's field, Bleau steadily reeled in runners through the second half, climbing from 365th to 275th among men by the finish. His 8:38/mi average over 26.2 miles was the class of the M65-69 group, and the 7:31 margin he built over Mike Gossman left no doubt at the line.

Gossman (Ormond Beach, FL) had the most dramatic positional story of the group. He moved from 507th to 326th among men across the race's four checkpoints — a relentless forward march that secured a clear 2nd-place finish in 3:54:04. Randy Kauftheil (Chapel Hill, NC) was steady if slightly fading, slipping a few spots among the men's field through the middle miles before locking in 3rd at 4:05:30. His cushion over Felix Buitrago — who closed well with one of the stronger 20M-to-finish splits in the group — held at nearly 17 and a half minutes.

Behind the podium, Greg Wyman and David Hergenroeder (both Madison/Atlanta area) rounded out the top six within a 6-minute window, while the back of the 13-man field stretched dramatically. Kenneth Moore and Jim Moore (no relation listed, but separated by just 1:21) crossed 8th and 9th within the 5:17–5:18 range, before Robert Lubin, Hank Lopez, and Xing Wu completed the field across a span of more than 34 minutes. Thirteen men in their late 60s finished a marathon in 29-degree wind — that alone is worth noting.