A look at the 2024 Rocket City Marathon results
HUNTSVILLE – The 2024 Rocket City Marathon will forever be remembered for the scattered showers, 50-degree temperature and gusty winds, as high as 30-miles per hour, but for those 1,183 finishers, their personal memories brought sunshine to another spectacular event hosted by the Huntsville Track Club and the Huntsville Sports Commission.
Andrew Taylor, 24, of Hilliard, Ohio, finished the race with a winning time of 2:28:10 to edge runner-up Joshua Moore, 33, of Hattiesburg, Miss. who posted a time of 2:28:37. The two battled the elements and each other down the final miles before entering the South Hall of the Von Braun Centre for the final yards and finish line.
Madison’s Josh Whitehead, a former winner of the 26.2-mile event, was fifth with a time of 2:39:05. His effort gave him the Men’s Masters Division title and set a new Alabama state age record for 46-year-olds that was last set 40 years ago. The second fastest from Madison was Christian Schrandt who finished at 2:46:46. The 36-year old Schrandt was 15th overall.
On the women’s race results, local talent stood out as 28-year old Emma Hardman of Huntsville took to the finish line for the victory at 2:49.27 after a third-place finish a year ago. Her winning time was about one minute ahead of runner-up Tera Moody, 43, of Bargersville, Ind.
The Madison contingent was led by Caitlin Morris, 39, who had a 3:29:26 finish time and was 174 overall, while Madison runner-up was claimed by Denise Lanahan, 44, at 3:41:25.
The age-group winners from Madison included both Schrandt (35-39 male) and Morris (35-39 female).
In all of the 1,183 finishers, 404 were female and 779 male.
