As Stefon would’ve said, the Fleet Feet Monte Sano 15K had it all: a regional championship, cool state age records, a blowy hurricano on its last legs, raindrops pelting like fake diamonds in a 2-star club, sparkly power lines on the ground, leaves dancing like it’s almost last call and a tingle like a frostee marg in a chilled mug.
The field stepped to the starting line at 7:28 a.m., emerging from the somewhat protective covers of the Monte Sano United Methodist Church. Two minutes later, the surge indicated someone had said, “Go!” There was no staying dry. If you walked from the parking lot to the church, you were wet. Shoes in puddles? Wet. On line for the portajohns? Wet.
The swirling gusts and blows of Hurricane Isaias were degrading into a tropical storm. Who gets to run in a hurricane, or tropical storm? It was one of those “Is this really something I want to do?” questionable decisions. You think about it in the car. Walking to the start. On the first mile. At the halfway point, where your car is just right there behind the church. And yet once you commit, once you decide to embrace the wind and rain and numb fingers from the chill, you know it’ll be a race to remember.
Harrison Autry, 27, of Huntsville led the field with a blazing 53:59 win, the fastest winning time in three years. It gave him the Road Runners Club of America Southern Region Championship, by five minutes over Lance Moore, 30, of Harvest. He finished in 59:02.
Emma Hardman, 30, of Harvest, was third, repeating as women’s champ and winning the RRCA Southern title. She finished in 1:00:53.
Yes, It Was Nasty
Everyone chose to do it and the conditions were the same for the 235 finishers, but yes, it was a crazy, windy, went, nastyish morning.
The race begins at the church, heads out on Monte Sano Boulevard up to Nolan, and then toodles around the neighborhood. Runners backtrack, cross the boulevard to loop around the site of the old Monte Sano Hotel, and back to the boulevard. From there it’s south to roughly Miles 5-8 on Panorama, Hutchens and others. That’s the hilly portion. The final toodle on the boulevard goes to the finish at the church.
Temperatures were in the 50s, colder than expected. Winds were steady at 20 mph from the north-northeast, with gusts to 30+ mph. Copious amounts of leaves, twigs and a branch or three covered the roads. A few puddles could be splashed through. The rain stopped briefly about 8:30 a.m., but the wind continued gusting with a few hard bursts.
Wind blew trees over and downed multiple power lines in the Panorama Drive area . Huntsville Police Department officers diverted the last 25-35 runners off the original course, directing them back toward Monte Sano Boulevard and the finish.
Champs, Age Records
Along with Autry and Hardman, RRCA Southern Region Championship titles were awarded in the 40-, 50- and 60-year old divisions.
40+: Suzanne Swift of Owens Cross Roads and Michael Niederhausen of Huntsville
50+ Vivian Zou of Huntsville and Tim Spradlin of Gainesville, Ga.
60+: Elaine Sillivant of Huntsville and Jay Hillis of Florence
See these champions’ times here.
Three runners set Alabama age group records:
Paul Baswell, 77, Loxley: 1:22:28
Fanny O’Neill, 15, Huntsville: 1:10:51
Kathy Harper, 75, Athens, 1:42:50
Baswell broke the record of 1:23:47 set in 2021 by Jim Upton of Albertville.
O’Neill’s record popped one that stood since 2007, a 1:13:57 set by Ari Stephenson of Moulton.
Harper’s record absolutely demolished the 2:06:51 set in 2003 by Betty Dooley of Huntsville. It is the sixth 15K age record for Harper, who holds numerous others in different distances.
See all of the Fleet Feet Monte Sano 15K results here. See all the photos at SpencerCoxPhotography.com
Harrison Autry on his way to the Fleet Feet Monte Sano 15K win. (Photo: Spencer Cox Photography)
