Rocket City Half Marathon M65-69: Smith runs away with it

• Michael Smith won the M65-69 group in 1:53:59 (8:42/mi), finishing more than 31 minutes ahead of runner-up Greg Heaton.
• Heaton (2:25:45) and Richard Galkowski (2:29:04) were separated by just 3 minutes 19 seconds for 2nd and 3rd.
• Billy Nolas (2:37:53) and Jim Floyd (2:38:28) staged the group's tightest battle, finishing 35 seconds apart in 4th and 5th.
• Seven men finished in M65-69, spanning a total range of 1 hour 24 minutes from first to last.

Michael Smith made this one look straightforward. The 65-year-old from Owens Cross Roads, AL, crossed in 1:53:59 at an 8:42/mi clip — a pace that left the rest of the M65-69 field well behind from the outset. On the 8M-to-Finish stretch he was still rolling, posting one of the stronger closing splits in the men's field. There was no drama at the front; Smith simply ran his race and no one came close to answering.

Behind him, Greg Heaton (age 68, Madison, IN) and Richard Galkowski (age 67, Arab, AL) ran most of the race in proximity, finishing 2nd and 3rd in 2:25:45 and 2:29:04 respectively. The gap between them — 3:19 — sounds comfortable enough, but Galkowski was the one giving ground late; Heaton's 8M-to-Finish split was marginally stronger, and he held the position he needed.

The race's most compelling late-race subplot belonged to 4th and 5th place. Billy Nolas (Tallahassee, FL) and Jim Floyd (Birmingham, AL) were locked together deep into the course, but Floyd actually faded on the back half — his men's place dropped from 215th to 299th between 8M and the finish — while Nolas gained ground, climbing from 304th to 294th over the same stretch. That momentum swing ultimately didn't change their order, but it closed the gap to just 35 seconds at the line: 2:37:53 for Nolas, 2:38:28 for Floyd.

Dean Sides (2:41:47) rounded out the top six, and Ahmad Baghal completed the seven-man field in 3:18:04 — a gutsy effort on a cool, breezy December day in Huntsville.