Rocket City Marathon 10K — F60-64: Lockett edges Vanrell in a finish for the ages

• 18 seconds separated first from second — Janet Lockett (1:18:58 finish time implied by pace) held off Linda Vanrell by the slimmest margin among all nine F60-64 finishers.
• Top three within 1:22 of each other — Lockett, Vanrell, and Irene Fischer all finished within a tight 82-second window.
• Anita Thebo and Julie Zingarelli staged their own mini-battle for 4th and 5th, separated by just 17 seconds.
• Jackie Greer of Byhalia, MS was the only out-of-state finisher, completing the course in 8:49:50 to round out a field of nine.

---

Nine women in the F60-64 age group toed the line in Huntsville on a mild, humid December morning — 60°F with heavy air at 85% humidity — and the race at the front could not have been closer. Birmingham's Janet Lockett took the win, but local runner Linda Vanrell pushed her every step of the way. Eighteen seconds. That's all that stood between first and second place after 6.2 miles, with Lockett holding on at an 8:10/mile pace and Vanrell right on her heels at 8:11. It was the kind of finish that makes a 10K worth every early alarm.

Irene Fischer, also of Huntsville, rounded out the podium in 8:12:20, keeping the top three remarkably compact. Just behind her, Prattville's Anita Thebo and Huntsville's Julie Zingarelli waged their own quiet battle for 4th and 5th — Thebo edging Zingarelli by 17 seconds in a finish nearly as tight as the one at the very top of the leaderboard.

From there, the field spread out. Renae Strange of New Hope crossed 6th in 8:27:19, more than 12 minutes ahead of 7th-place Lee Collins, who finished in 8:37:29. Anita Banks followed just 75 seconds later in 8th, and Jackie Greer — making the trip from Byhalia, Mississippi — closed out the group in 8:49:50. All nine finishers completed the course, and in a race where the top five were separated by less than four minutes, the F60-64 age group delivered one of the more compelling stories of the morning.