Rocket City 5K — F40-44: Scavarda Dominates in the December Heat

• Linda Scavarda won the F40-44 group in 22:56 (7:23/mi), more than 2½ minutes clear of second place.
• Linda Bowen claimed second in 25:33, leaving a yawning 5:33 gap back to the rest of the podium.
• Tj Tatum, Crystal Taylor, and Amanda Kelly finished 3rd through 5th in a remarkable three-way cluster — 31:06, 31:07, and 31:08 — separated by just two seconds across three athletes.
• Thirty women completed the F40-44 race on a warm, breezy December morning in Huntsville — 70°F with 17 mph winds and 76% humidity making for unusually heavy conditions.

Linda Scavarda, 40, from Meridianville, ran away with this one from the front. Her 7:23/mi average was in a different register entirely from the rest of the F40-44 field, and the 2:37 margin over Linda Bowen tells the story plainly — this wasn't a close race at the top.

Bowen herself ran a composed 8:13/mi to hold second comfortably, but the real drama of the morning unfolded just behind her. Tj Tatum (41, North Tazewell, VA), Crystal Taylor (43, Northport, AL), and Amanda Kelly (41, Franklin, TN) crossed in 31:06, 31:07, and 31:08 respectively — all running right at 10:01/mi. Three athletes, three seconds, three spots on the results sheet. The timing mats sorted them out, but only just.

Further back, the field spread across a wide range of paces, from Lisa Easterling's 11:13/mi in 6th to Melissa Fritz rounding out the listed finishers in 20th at 14:50/mi. With ten more finishers beyond the listed twenty, the F40-44 group was one of the fuller age groups on the course — a solid showing for a warm, windy December morning in Alabama.