Get ready for Saturday’s Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville - AL.com

Will Huntsville-area runners again dominate their home turf in the Rocket City Marathon?

If so, it will probably mean some new local faces at the front of the field Saturday morning. Defending overall winner Brandon York, of Madison, is not running this year. Reigning top female, Huntsville’s Alana Scarano, will be on the course, but as a pacer. Madison’s Josh Whitehead, the 2013 RCM winner, returns after claiming the event’s inaugural half marathon last year.

“Absolutely,” Whitehead, 41, said when asked if area runners are extra motivated for the RCM. “It’s our local marathon. We definitely want to come out and represent the running community here best as we can.”

Whitehead is running his 16th marathon and his eighth RCM. He won the Servis1st Bank First Light Marathon in Mobile in January with a time of 2:34:21, which set the Alabama state record for fastest marathon by a 40-year-old.

The 43rd edition of the Rocket City Marathon – which includes stretches through historic downtown, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and Huntsville Botanical Garden -- starts at 7 a.m. Saturday, outside of the Von Braun Center. Officials previewed the event earlier this week at an news confernece, including:

-- The homestretch of the course has changed. Runners will go through Big Spring Park and the tunnel underneath Monroe Street before finishing in the VBC’s South Hall.

-- Amber White, of Chicago, is tackling the RCM as her U.S. Olympic Trails qualifier. White qualified for the 2016 trails, held on a hot day in Los Angeles. She learned two weeks after the race that she had run while pregnant. White needs to finish the RCM in less than 2 hours, 45 minutes in order to qualify for the 2020 trails, set for Feb. 29 in Atlanta.

“I do not recommend running a marathon for two,” she said with a laugh.

-- A marathon is 26.2 miles. Flip around the fist two numbers and you get 62, the age that Huntsville’s Stuart Obermann is approaching, so he figured it only made sense to run his first marathon. He’ll be joined by his daughter, Lauren Dauro and son-in-law, Adam Dauro. Obermann’s grandson, Gregory Dauro, will run in the kids’ race Friday evening. Obermann also has a brother from Austin, Texas, and nephews from Seattle and China coming to run.

-- North Carolina native Andrea Peet, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2014, will participate -- using her recumbent tricycle -- as part of her goal to compete in a marathon in every state. Prior to her diagnosis, Peet completed a marathon and nine triathlons.

-- This RCM is debuting relay teams this year. Approximately 35 teams, with two to five people per team, are expected to compete.

-- The purse is $8,500. The open male and female winners each receive $1,000.

-- York’s time of 2:23:37 last year was the fastest since Kenya native Daniel Kirwa clocked a 2:20:05 in 2011. The RCM record is 2:12:21, set by Ireland’s Louis Kenny in 1980.

-- The RCM is a qualifier for the 2021 Boston Marathon.

-- Quotable: “We received a lot of stories, and a lot we can’t share because they’re very personal and very intense. The thing that has occurred to us is that everyone has a story. Every person who crosses that line is doing so for a very, very important and personal reason. It’s very meaningful.” -- RCM co-director Dwayne DeBardelaben

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Get ready for Saturday’s Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville - AL.com
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