Rocket City Marathon F25-29: Cavett Runs Down a Sub-2:52 in Brutal Cold

• Tay Cavett wins in 2:51:24 (6:32/mi), holding 2nd among women through most of the race before settling 3rd in the women's field at the finish — the fastest F25-29 finisher by more than six minutes.
• Cavett's 10K→Half split ranked 3rd-fastest among all women in the field, the engine that powered her commanding margin.
• Becca Isakoff's late surge: running 5th among women at the finish after sitting 7th through the first half, Isakoff (2:59:50) was the only top-three F25-29 finisher to gain ground in the women's field over the back half.
• Kenna Eldridge and Audrey Allen both clocked 3:49:19 to land 14th and 15th in the age group — separated only by the timing chip, not the clock.

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At 29°F with a 16 mph wind cutting through Huntsville, this was not a day for fast finishing — which makes Tay Cavett's 2:51:24 all the more striking. The hometown runner (Huntsville, AL) averaged 6:32/mi across 26.2 miles in those conditions, spending the entire race as one of the top women on the course. Her 10K-to-half split was the third-fastest among all women in the field, and she never relinquished her grip on the F25-29 lead. The win wasn't close: Deanna Doane of Jacksonville Beach finished second in the age group in 2:57:52 (6:47/mi), a gap of over six minutes, while Becca Isakoff of Cleveland Heights rounded out the podium in 2:59:50 (6:52/mi).

Doane was steady throughout, holding 4th among women from the 10K mat all the way to the finish line, and her 10K→Half split ranked 7th among all women. Isakoff told a different story: parked at 7th in the women's field through the halfway mark, she ran the back half faster than Doane relative to the field, climbing to 5th among women at the finish. Her 10K→Half split ranked 5th-fastest among all women — a strong middle segment that set up her sub-3:00 finish.

Behind the podium, the race for 4th and 5th in the age group was its own battle. Maddie Christman of Carmel, IN, was the steadier climber — moving from 14th among women at the 10K to 11th at the finish in 3:11:09 (7:17/mi). Katie Reese of Clinton, MS, was right behind at 3:11:40 (7:19/mi), with her strongest relative segment coming on the 20-mile-to-finish stretch, where she posted the 13th-fastest women's split on that leg. Just 31 seconds separated them across 26.2 miles in a 29-degree wind — a real fight to the end.

Sarah Reilly (3:17:58) and Abby Patterson (3:21:41) rounded out the top seven, with 72 women completing the F25-29 field on a day when simply finishing in those conditions was its own achievement.