Rocket City Marathon F50-54: Chesnutt Wires the Age Group in a Four-Way Thriller

• Stacy Juckett Chesnutt won the F50-54 group in 3:50:37 (8:48/mi), finishing ahead of a four-woman cluster that was separated by just 3:00 across 2nd through 5th place.
• Karen Rogow (2nd, 3:58:35), EV Sogbesan (3rd, 3:59:07), Frances Crofts (4th, 3:59:37), and Jennifer McClellan (5th, 4:00:11) all crossed within 96 seconds of each other — four athletes in under two minutes after 26.2 miles.
• Chesnutt's late surge was real: her 28th-fastest women's split on the 31K-to-finish stretch was the sharpest closing kick among the top five in F50-54.
• Chesnutt arrived here already having earned 3rd in the Women's 5K at this same event — a genuine double-race effort worth noting.

Stacy Juckett Chesnutt, 51, making the trip from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, put the F50-54 title out of reach with a finishing pace of 8:48/mi — nearly a full minute per mile faster than the four women chasing her. But the real drama was behind her. Rogow (Atlanta), Sogbesan (Dallas, GA), Crofts (Neshanic Station, NJ), and McClellan (Suwanee, GA) spent the final miles in a genuine footrace, with no more than 34 seconds separating 2nd through 4th at the line and McClellan just 34 more seconds back in 5th.

Chesnutt's path to victory was also one of steady advancement. She moved from 58th among women at the first checkpoint all the way to 37th by the finish, and her 31K-to-finish split was the engine of that climb — 28th-fastest among all women in the field on that closing stretch. That's not a runner who held on; that's a runner who turned it on.

Behind the top five, Amy Hayes finished 7th in 4:05:35 and Beth Lambert 8th in 4:07:05 — Lambert herself completing a busy race weekend, having also placed 4th in the Women's 5K. Amanda Bradford (9th, 4:14:01) and Michele Brock (10th, 4:14:56) rounded out a strong top ten. Worth a mention further back: Lori Joas (13th, 4:30:19) had also raced the Women's 10K at this event, finishing 6th there — another athlete who put in double duty across the weekend.