Rocket City Half Marathon F0-14: Stewart Takes the Title in a Frigid Fight to the Finish

• Tenly Stewart won the F0-14 age group in 1:50:16 (8:25/mi), holding off a late charge from Eleanor Gannon.
• Eleanor Gannon posted the 37th-fastest women's split on the 6.8M→Finish stretch — faster than Stewart's 70th-fastest — to close the gap but ultimately finished 37 seconds back in 1:50:53 (8:28/mi).
• Anna Larson rounded out the podium in 2:09:53 (9:54/mi), nearly 19 minutes behind Gannon.
• Tatum Abel finished 4th in 2:46:33 (12:42/mi), completing all 13.1 miles in 29°F and 16 mph wind.

Four 14-year-olds from north Alabama lined up on a bitterly cold December morning in Huntsville — 29°F, clear skies, and a 16 mph wind that made every mile feel longer — and put together a genuinely competitive age-group race. Tenly Stewart of Guntersville led the way, crossing in 1:50:16 at an 8:25/mi clip to claim first in the F0-14 group.

The most compelling subplot of the race was the second-half duel between Stewart and her Guntersville teammate Eleanor Gannon. Gannon was well back in the women's field through 6.8 miles, sitting 75th among women, but she unleashed the 37th-fastest women's split on the closing stretch to surge all the way to 49th among women at the finish — a remarkable move through the field. Stewart, by contrast, slipped slightly from 39th to 46th among women over that same stretch, posting the 70th-fastest closing split. Gannon ran the back half harder, but Stewart's early cushion proved just enough: 37 seconds separated them at the tape.

Anna Larson, also from Guntersville, held a steady 9:54/mi to finish 3rd in 2:09:13 — wait, 2:09:53 — nearly 19 minutes behind Gannon. Tatum Abel of Cleveland, AL closed out the group in 2:46:33, grinding through the wind at 12:42/mi to finish what is a genuinely tough race under genuinely tough conditions. All four finished. On a day like this, that counts for something.