M65-69 Half Marathon: Ricketts rules in the Huntsville freeze

• Duane Ricketts won the M65-69 group in 1:48:22 (8:16/mi), nearly nine minutes clear of runner-up Andrew Carr.
• Andrew Carr held 2nd in 1:57:01, while Michael Schleider rounded out the podium in 2:07:10 — a 10-minute spread across the top three.
• Daniel Borsos (68) and Gary Chatham (68) were separated by just 1:13 in 5th and 6th, the tightest battle of the day.
• 14 men finished in M65-69, with a spread of nearly 1:44:08 from first to last — a wide-open field on a brutally cold morning.

With temperatures locked at 29°F and a 16 mph wind cutting across Huntsville, the M65-69 group faced the kind of morning that separates the committed from the merely optimistic. Duane Ricketts, 65, from Cullman, answered decisively. His 8:16/mi average was a full 40 seconds per mile faster than anyone else in the group, and he backed it up in the second half — posting a strong 6.8M-to-finish split that moved him forward in the broader men's field. This wasn't a close race at the front; it was a statement.

Behind Ricketts, Andrew Carr of Alpharetta made a clear case for 2nd, finishing in 1:57:01 and also gaining places in the men's field over the final stretch. Michael Schleider of Gurley completed the podium in 2:07:10, likewise moving up in the closing miles. Both runners showed that the second half of this course, in these conditions, rewarded those who paced conservatively early.

The real drama in M65-69 played out further back. Michael Peters (4th, 2:14:48) and Daniel Borsos (5th, 2:17:56) were separated by just under three minutes, with Borsos edging out Gary Chatham by a mere 1:13 for 5th place. Wayne Davis, also 65, sat just 23 seconds behind Chatham in 7th — three men within 1:36 of each other across positions 5 through 7. In a 29-degree wind, every second of that gap was earned the hard way.