M65-69: Charlie Bleau Runs Away from the Field in the Cold

• Charlie Bleau won the M65-69 age group in 3:46:33 (8:38/mi), finishing more than 7 minutes ahead of runner-up Mike Gossman.
• Mike Gossman held second in 3:54:04 (8:56/mi), with Randy Kauftheil a further 11-plus minutes back in third at 4:05:30 (9:22/mi).
• The spread across all 13 finishers ran from 3:46:33 to 6:45:42 — a gap of nearly three hours across the age group.
• Despite 29°F temperatures and a 16 mph wind in Huntsville, the top two men both ran the second half faster than their earlier pace, steadily climbing through the men's field.

Charlie Bleau, 65, of Decatur, GA, was never seriously threatened. He entered the second half already moving well and kept picking off runners — his position among the men improved from 365th at the first checkpoint all the way to 275th by the finish, a climb of 90 places. At 8:38/mi on a frigid December morning, Bleau's margin of victory was decisive: Gossman, running 8:56/mi, simply could not close the gap.

Gossman himself had a strong race in his own right, surging through the men's field with even more momentum than Bleau over the final miles — moving from 507th at the first checkpoint to 326th at the finish, a gain of 181 places. That late charge made second place comfortable and left Randy Kauftheil, 67, of Chapel Hill, NC, well behind in third at 4:05:30. Kauftheil's strongest relative segment came in the Half-to-20-mile stretch, but he faded slightly in the closing miles, finishing 423rd among the men after entering that stretch in 416th.

Felix Buitrago (4:23:03, 10:02/mi) and Greg Wyman (4:36:24, 10:33/mi) rounded out the top five, both gaining ground on the 20-to-finish segment. David Hergenroeder (4:42:34) and Kevin Brosnan (4:52:51) completed the top seven. At the back of the group, Kenneth Moore (5:17:09), Jim Moore (5:18:30), and Bob Nicholson (5:20:36) finished within a tight three-minute window of each other. Robert Lubin (6:10:50), Hank Lopez (6:41:02), and Xing Wu (6:45:42) crossed the line to complete all 13 finishers — no small feat in those conditions.