Rocket City 5K: Tibbetts dominates F70-74 in the Huntsville cold

• Jane Tibbetts won the F70-74 age group in 38:01 (12:14/mi) — more than 9 minutes clear of second place.
• The gap from 2nd to 5th spanned nearly 10 and a half minutes, making for a widely spread field across all five finishers.
• Mercy Lomax and Vickie Valentine staged the closest battle of the day, separated by just 67 seconds for 3rd and 4th.
• All five women finished in 29°F temperatures with a 16 mph wind — a genuine test of grit for any age group.

Five women lined up in the F70-74 age group on a frigid December morning in Huntsville, and Jane Tibbetts of Palm Coast, Florida made the outcome clear in a hurry. Her 38:01 — a 12:14-per-mile clip — was a commanding performance that put her nearly nine and a half minutes ahead of Reita Los of Raeford, North Carolina, who crossed in 47:20 to claim second. In a five-person field, that kind of margin tells its own story.

Behind Los, the real drama played out between Mercy Lomax and Vickie Valentine. Lomax, racing on home turf in Huntsville, finished 3rd in 51:49, with Valentine — making the trip from Mason, Ohio — just 67 seconds back in 52:56 for 4th. In a cold, windy 5K where every second costs something extra, that gap was tight enough to keep things interesting to the line.

Edwina Musante of Eva, Alabama rounded out the group in 57:51, completing the F70-74 field. That all five women finished a 5K in 29-degree weather with a stiff 16 mph wind blowing through Huntsville is worth noting on its own — these athletes earned every step of it.