Rocket City Marathon – Back Half: Helton Dominates M25-29

• Jonathan Helton (Birmingham, AL) won the M25-29 group in 1:18:34 — a blistering 5:60/mi — finishing more than 7 minutes clear of runner-up Aaron Dickens.
• Aaron Dickens (Morgantown, WV) was a comfortable second in 1:25:52 (6:33/mi), with Joshua Ellard a further 9 minutes back in third at 1:34:54.
• Places 6–8 were a genuine dogfight: Jeffery Noble (1:53:55), Kevin Fiddelke (1:54:16), and Timothy Bacza (1:54:17) — Fiddelke and Bacza separated by just one second.
• Henry Gunner and Joseph Harkins finished 13th and 14th in 2:10:40 and 2:10:41 respectively — one second apart after more than two hours of racing.

Jonathan Helton made this look straightforward in conditions that were anything but. Racing through 70°F heat, 76% humidity, and a 17 mph wind in Huntsville, he ran 5:60/mi from start to finish and only strengthened as the race wore on — posting the 6th-fastest 10K-to-finish split among the men. He entered the final stretch sitting 6th among the men and held firm at 7th, a performance that put significant daylight between himself and everyone else in the M25-29 group.

Aaron Dickens held second place comfortably throughout, never threatening Helton but never threatened himself, finishing at 6:33/mi for a clean runner-up result. Joshua Ellard was the day's most notable mover in the back half, climbing from 23rd to 19th among the men over the 10K-to-finish stretch — the 18th-fastest split on that segment in the men's field — to lock up third in 1:34:54. Sam Kornegay rounded out the top four, though he faded slightly in the closing stretch, slipping from 25th to 26th among the men.

The real drama in the M25-29 group played out in the middle of the pack. Fiddelke and Bacza, both local Huntsville runners, crossed the line in 1:54:16 and 1:54:17 — a single second separating them after nearly two hours of work. A few spots back, Harkins and Gunner reprised the same story: 2:10:40 and 2:10:41, one second apart at 13th and 14th. In a race shaped by heat and wind, those margins were earned the hard way.