Rocket City 5K — F30-34: Tara Sims Wins a Frigid Huntsville Showdown

• Tara Sims took the F30-34 title in 28:59 (9:20/mi), finishing 14 seconds clear of runner-up Tylar Brooks.
• The top four were separated by just 58 seconds, making for a tightly contested front pack in brutal 29°F conditions.
• Elizabeth Wilson of Huntsville claimed the local bragging rights, finishing 3rd in 29:47 — the only podium finisher from Alabama.
• A field of 31 women spread across more than 12 minutes from first to last, reflecting a wide range of paces on a cold, windy December morning.

Racing in 29°F temperatures with a 16 mph wind cutting through Huntsville, the F30-34 group wasted no time getting after it. Tara Sims, making the trip from Sugar Land, Texas, set the pace and never let go, crossing in 28:59 at 9:20 per mile — the standard everyone else was chasing.

Her closest challenger was fellow Texan Tylar Brooks of North Richland Hills, who pushed hard but came up 14 seconds short at 29:13. Elizabeth Wilson, representing the home crowd in Huntsville, rounded out the podium at 29:47. Perrin Windham was right on her heels in 4th at 29:57 — just 10 seconds back — and Kasey Thompson completed a tight top five at 30:17. From 1st through 5th, only 1 minute and 18 seconds separated the pack, a genuinely competitive front end for a frigid Saturday morning race.

Behind the top five, Hillary Parker (7th, 31:24) and Anna Thompson (8th, 33:01) marked the transition into the mid-field, where the gaps began to widen. Morgan White in 10th (35:18) and Alyssa Green in 11th (35:54) led a cluster of Florence, Alabama runners navigating the cold together. Shaella Freeman rounded out the individually listed finishers in 20th at 41:23, with 11 more women completing the course beyond her — a testament to the commitment it takes to toe the line in conditions like these.