Rocket City M60-64: Murr runs away with it in Huntsville

• Scott Murr (Greenville, SC) won the M60-64 group in 1:36:37 — a 7:22/mi clip that left the field well behind.
• The gap from 1st to 2nd was 12 minutes 17 seconds; from 2nd to 3rd, another 9 minutes 45 seconds — this was a race of clear separations.
• Jamie Miller (Huntsville, AL) was the strongest finisher in the back half of the race, climbing from 38th to 32nd among men on the 10K-to-finish segment — the 28th-fastest split on that stretch.
• Eight men finished across a range of nearly two hours, from Murr's 1:36:37 to Chris Erickson's 3:29:45.

Scott Murr came to Huntsville and made the M60-64 race look straightforward. Running 7:22 per mile through a warm, humid December morning — 60°F and 85% humidity is no gift for a half marathon — the 61-year-old from Greenville moved from 10th to 8th among men on the 10K-to-finish leg and never looked threatened. His winning margin over Duane Ricketts was more than twelve minutes, which tells you everything about how far ahead of this field he was operating.

Ricketts (Cullman, AL) held second in 1:48:54, though he did fade slightly in the closing stretch, slipping from 18th to 22nd among men over that final segment. Third went to local runner Jamie Miller of Huntsville, who crossed in 1:58:39 and was actually one of the stronger movers late in the race, gaining six places among men from the 10K mark to the finish. David Chadwick, also of Huntsville, rounded out the top four in 2:05:28, likewise gaining ground over the final stretch.

John Kelley (Estill Springs, TN) was the one notable fader in the top five, dropping from 50th to 57th among men on the closing segment on his way to a 2:11:59 fifth-place finish. Edward Hickey and Brian Kiger came home sixth and seventh within a couple of minutes of each other — 2:30:23 and 2:32:51 respectively. Chris Erickson closed out the eight-man field in 3:29:45, finishing his own race on a humid Alabama morning.