Rocket City 10K: Ingram Wins M75-79 in Huntsville

• Ronnie Ingram (76, Evansville IN) took the M75-79 title in 1:28:41, averaging 14:16 per mile.
• Wilburn Douglass Jr (77, Huntsville AL) finished 2nd in 1:47:11, averaging 17:15 per mile.
• The gap between the two finishers was 18 minutes 30 seconds.

Just two men lined up in the M75-79 group on a mild December morning in Huntsville — 59°F, overcast, with a light 9 mph breeze — and both of them crossed the finish line of the Rocket City 10K, which is worth celebrating on its own terms.

Ronnie Ingram, the 76-year-old making the trip down from Evansville, Indiana, was the clear front-runner from the outset, posting a 14:16-per-mile average across the 6.2 miles to win in 1:28:41. That's a purposeful, controlled effort — nothing reckless, nothing wasted.

Wilburn Douglass Jr, the hometown runner at 77 years old, brought it home in 1:47:11 at 17:15 per mile. The 18-and-a-half-minute gap between the two men tells the story of a race that was never in doubt at the front, but Douglass finishing on his home course at 77 is a result worth noting in its own right.

Two finishers, two completions, two men in their mid-to-late seventies running a 10K in December. Ingram takes the win; Douglass takes the hometown honor.