M60-64: Schor dominates in the Rocket City heat

• Mike Schor won the M60-64 group in 3:20:16 (7:38/mi), finishing more than 20 minutes clear of runner-up John Casterline (3:40:57).
• Schor was a relentless mover in the men's field, advancing from 120th to 92nd among men across the race's four checkpoints.
• David Dodd ran the most dramatic split trajectory of the group — surging to 5th on the strength of the 10K-to-half segment, then fading from 115th to 289th among men in the back half.
• Shih-Min Hsu (4:38:31) and Keith Jones (4:38:33) finished back-to-back with identical displayed times, but the timing had Jones a place behind — a margin measured in fractions of a second.

Thirty men aged 60–64 toed the line at Rocket City on a warm, blustery December morning — 70°F, 17 mph winds, and 76% humidity made this anything but a gift of a day. Mike Schor of Birmingham turned in the kind of performance that makes conditions irrelevant. His 3:20:16 at 7:38 per mile was not just a win; it was a statement, with a gap of over 20 minutes to second place that grew with every checkpoint. He was still accelerating through the field among men as late as the final segment, picking up 14 more places between 31K and the finish.

John Casterline, also of Birmingham, held second place with a composed 3:40:57 (8:26/mi), and Glen Schepers of Celestine, Indiana rounded out the podium in 3:47:53. Matthew Spiegel (3:58:20) and David Dodd (4:00:56) completed the top five, though Dodd's race told a tale of two halves. He was running with the front pack of the group through the half, but the wind and heat exacted a toll — he shed 174 places among men between the halfway point and the finish, slipping from 4th to 5th in the group in the process.

The near-dead-heat between Shih-Min Hsu and Keith Jones at 12th and 13th — separated by just two seconds on the clock — was the tightest battle of the day in the M60-64 group, a reminder that even deep in the field, Rocket City had its own drama to offer.