Rocket City Marathon F35-39: Munene Owns the Day at Sub-3:00

• Purity Munene (2:58:04, 6:47/mi) won the F35-39 group and led the women's field wire-to-wire through the first half, posting the fastest women's split from 10K to the halfway mark.
• Margaret Powers (3:14:34) was the runner-up, finishing 16:30 back and recording the 6th-fastest women's split from 31K to the finish line.
• Whitney Woodard (3:30:28) rounded out the podium in 3rd, posting the 18th-fastest women's split from 10K to halfway.
• Natasha Winter (3:47:50) was the group's biggest mover in the back half, climbing from 41st among women at the start to 32nd by the finish.

Purity Munene's 2:58:04 was the defining performance of the F35-39 group on a warm, humid December morning in Huntsville — 60°F and 85% humidity is no gift to marathon runners, and a sub-3:00 finish demands respect in any conditions. Munene sat first among women through the opening 10K and held that position through the halfway point, where her 10K-to-half split was the fastest in the entire women's field. She slipped to second among women in the back half but had built enough of a cushion that it didn't matter in the F35-39 standings — she finished 16:30 clear of runner-up Margaret Powers.

Powers (3:14:34, 7:25/mi) ran a disciplined race, sitting 8th or 9th among women through most of the course before closing with the 6th-fastest women's split from 31K to the finish — a strong surge that brought her home in 2nd. Whitney Woodard (3:30:28, 8:02/mi) of Pelham, AL claimed 3rd, running the 18th-fastest women's split through the middle stretch to hold off the rest of the field.

Further back, Natasha Winter (3:47:50, 8:41/mi) was the story of the second half, climbing from 41st to 32nd among women between the gun and the finish — a sustained move that earned her 5th in the age group. The mid-pack was tightly bunched: Erin Smith (4:09:14), Lynzey Smith (4:09:30), and Kayla Wilson (4:09:31) finished 11th, 12th, and 13th within a span of just 17 seconds. All 54 finishers in the F35-39 group crossed the line in conditions that made every minute earned.