Marco Arop and Kelley Kastner took top honors Sunday morning in the Back Half-Marathon during the 48th Rocket City Marathon race weekend.
Arop, 26, of Starkville, Miss., won the race by more than two minutes, finishing in 1:11:15. Alan Carreno of Las Vegas was second in 1:13, and Stuart Lamp of Decatur took third in 1:16.
Arop was in command the whole way, running at 43:47 at the 8-mile mark. He had a 5:29 pace per mile. Arop is the fourth-fastest 800m runner in history. He won the silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He also is the reigning world champion in the 800m.
Kastner, 40, of St. Louis, won the women’s division in 1:38:37. She was 36th overall.
Rachel Joffrion of Huntsville was second (37th) in 1:39:19, and Avery Evans of Huntsville was third (48th) in 1:41:39.
The race had 632 official finishers. The race began at UAH and followed the back half of the marathon course. Peter Toldand and Sarah Crouch, both of Huntsville, won the Front Half-Marathon. It began at the Von Braun Center and ended at Campus 805.
See all of the overall results here, and all of the age group results here.
The Huntsville Track Club puts on the Rocket City Marathon race weekend. The events are presented by the Huntsville Sports Commission along with 15 other sponsors.
NOTE: This story has been updated with additional information about Marco Arop.
