Rocket City Half Marathon M70-74: Pavlin Pulls Clear in a Two-Man Battle

• Mark Pavlin, 73, wins M70-74 in 2:14:25 — a 10:15/mi pace across 13.1 miles in Huntsville.
• Rick Stockton, 71, finishes 2nd in 2:26:45 — 12 minutes and 20 seconds back.
• Both men gained ground in the men's field over the second half: Pavlin moved from 212th to 201st among men from 8M to the finish; Stockton climbed from 266th to 248th.

The M70-74 group at the 2024 Rocket City Marathon half was a compact field of two, but the competition between them was real and the margins were not. Mark Pavlin, the 73-year-old from Kingsport, Tennessee, set the tone early and never let it slip, crossing in 2:14:25 at a steady 10:15 per mile on a mild December morning — 59°F and overcast, with a light 9 mph breeze that kept conditions manageable.

Rick Stockton, running on home turf in Huntsville at 71, gave chase but couldn't close the gap. His 2:26:45 finish at 11:12 per mile represented a nearly a minute-per-mile difference in average pace — enough to make the outcome clear, even if both men were still moving well late in the race. Notably, Stockton actually climbed 18 spots in the men's field between the 8-mile mark and the finish, compared to Pavlin's gain of 11 — suggesting Stockton found another gear down the stretch, just not quite enough of one.

Pavlin takes the M70-74 title with a performance that held up from start to finish. At 73, running 13.1 miles at better than 10:15 pace is a result worth marking down — and on a December afternoon in Huntsville, he made it look measured and deliberate from wire to wire.