Rocket City Half Marathon F75-79: Morris Claims the Title in the Cold

• Geri Morris won the F75-79 age group in 2:29:03 (11:22/mi), finishing 428th among all women.
• Jackie Hobbs completed the race in 3:07:11 (14:17/mi), 38 minutes and 8 seconds back in 2nd.
• Both women gained ground in the women's field over the second half, with Morris moving up 14 spots and Hobbs moving up 19 spots from 6.8 miles to the finish.
• Race-day conditions were demanding: 29°F, clear skies, and a 16 mph wind in Huntsville.

Two women aged 75 toed the line for the F75-79 half marathon in Huntsville on a biting December morning — 29°F, a sharp 16 mph wind, and not a cloud in the sky to soften it. Geri Morris, making the trip down from Traverse City, Michigan, set the pace from the start and never relinquished it, crossing the finish line in 2:29:03 at an 11:22/mi average to claim the age-group title.

Morris was the stronger finisher of the two, posting the 420th-fastest women's split on the 6.8-mile-to-finish stretch and moving from 442nd to 428th in the women's field over that second half — a sign she was running with control and purpose even as the cold and wind bore down. Jackie Hobbs, the hometown runner from Huntsville, was working hard in her own right: she climbed from 718th to 699th among women over that same closing stretch, posting the 674th-fastest women's split on the segment. Hobbs finished in 3:07:11 at 14:17/mi, 38 minutes and 8 seconds behind Morris.

The gap between them was wide, but the story here is simply that two 75-year-olds showed up and ran a half marathon in near-freezing wind — and both finished. Morris takes the age-group title; Hobbs earns her place on the results sheet as well, completing the race in her own backyard.