Rocket City Marathon 2013

The 2013 Rocket City Marathon was Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013. This was the final running of the Rocket City Marathon with the downtown Huntsville Holiday Inn as the race headquarters. The Holiday Inn closed the day following the race and is scheduled for demolition for reuse of the property. This marks the end of an era for the Rocket City Marathon. The course has changed a few times during the 37 year history of the event, but the current course with only minor changes has been in use for many years. The Huntsville Track Club made an announcement about the new course at the pre-race dinner. Chris Welch did a nice story on the announcement and the new course on i4sports.

There was much concern about the weather leading into this race. The forecast many days in advance called for cold rain all through the race. However, the runners really caught a break with the weather. There was light rain at the start which mostly gave way to cloudy skies and temperatures in the low to mid 50s, which is nearly ideal for running.

The overall win at this race stayed local to Madison County as Josh Whitehead of Madison ran a one minute negative split 2:37:25 to take the overall win. The women's winner was Justyne Mudy of Rome, GA, with a massive nearly 4 minute negative split and an impressive 2:46:34, over 5 minutes ahead of second place. The masters winner was Matt Pulle of Nashville, TN, in 2:40:36 and the women's masters winner was Kaye Anne Starosciak of Canton, GA, in 2:58:29.

Complete detailed results are here.
http://www.huntsvilletrackclub.org/results/RCM13/Detail.txt

Several Limestone runners made a strong showing at this historic running of the 37th Rocket City Marathon. Chris Ramsden of Athens broke the very difficult 3 hour barrier with an impressive near even split race in 2:59:35. Johnny Maplesden was granted a late entry due to the cancellation of the St. Jude Memphis Marathon, and ran a personal best 3:29:41. Eric Patterson led the 3:30 pace group to a 3:29:24 finish. Jonathan and Emily Spry teamed up to lead the 3:45 pace group to a 3:44:30 finish.

Just a few photos courtesy of Gregg Gelmis of We Run Huntsville.

Chris Ramsden (Captain America) at Mile 7 (Photo by Gregg Gelmis)

Eric Patterson leading the 3:30 Pace Group at Mile 2 with Jordon Paul (left) (Photo by Gregg Gelmis)

Jonathan and Emily Spry finishing together (Photo by Gregg Gelmis)

Johnny Maplesden hanging tough at the finish (Photo by Gregg Gelmis)

Limestone County finishers are listed below.

1. 2:59:35	Chris	Ramsden	Athens	AL
2. 3:23:53	Tony	King	Athens	AL
3. 3:29:24	Eric	Patterson	Athens	AL
4. 3:29:41	Johnny	Maplesden	Athens	AL
5. 3:44:30	Emily	Spry	Elkmont	AL
6. 3:44:30	Jonathan	Spry	Elkmont	AL
7. 3:49:22	Jordan	Paul	Athens	AL
8. 4:13:02	Jimmy	Morrow	Athens	AL
9. 4:33:17	Eddy	Burks	Athens	AL
10. 5:03:10	Rex	Tucker Sr	Athens	AL
11. 5:21:20	Amy	Morrow	Athens	AL
12. 5:25:27	William	Murphy	Athens	AL