Racers of the 97th Mount Marathon Race — Final Info!

Juniors: Flagstad seeks first win, Jordan out with illness

By MATIAS SAARI
Mount Marathon Race Director

Vebjorn Flagstad has won plenty of major running and skiing races, but one title has thus far eluded him: the Mount Marathon Junior Boys race.

Flagstad, the runner-up the last two years, seeks to change that in his last junior race before aging up to the men’s event in 2026.

“I am definitely hungry for a win,” said Flagstad, whose father Trond still owns family bragging rights with two wins in the men’s race.

Flagstad, now 17, ran an exceptionally fast time of 25 minutes, 52 seconds in 2024 while wearing a red USA singlet. The only problem: Palmer’s Coby Marvin, holder of the second-fastest time in junior history, was also entered. Unlike 2023, when Marvin got a big gap on the climb to the junior turnaround pole, Flagstad hung close to Marvin the entire way last year but still finished five seconds behind.

Marvin won’t be a factor this year: he’s 18 years old now and making his men’s race debut.

“Not having Coby (in 2025) will make it interesting since I will most likely have to lead and pace myself,” said Flagstad, who focused on track training this spring and won a state championship in the 3200-meter run.

If any returning racers are going to challenge Flagstad, they’ll likely have to speed up several minutes from their 2024 races.

Also entered are Cedar Ruckel of Indian (third in 28:22 last year), Blaze Rubeo of Wasilla (fourth in 28:24 last year) and Raven Spangler of Palmer (fourth in 2023).

One top newcomer is Nathan Vanderlugt, a talented Nordic skier and mountain runner now living at Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks. Vanderlugt raised some eyebrows at the 2024 Bird Ridge Hill Climb when he placed 10^th overall as a 15-year-old ahead of many seasoned Mount Marathon adult racers.

Missing from the roster is Robbie Annett, who was fifth last year. He accomplished a rare feat at the 2025 state high school Division 2 championships by taking the 800-, 1600- and 3200-meter races.

Junior boys compete together in one large wave of about 300 runs starting at 9 a.m. on July 4 in downtown Seward.

In the junior girls race, it’s a good thing for hometown girl Olive Jordan that the race isn’t only uphill.

Last year Jordan, then 14 years old, reached the turnaround point in fifth place with a seemingly large deficit of 68 seconds. But Jordan rocketed down the mountain in 8 minutes, 41 seconds to take the win in 33:59, which was 23 seconds clear of Palmer’s Wren Spangler.

“I was surprised (about coming back to win), but I do have the local advantage,” Jordan said. “So I have a pretty fast downhill and my town cheering me on. … One reason I’m fast at the downhill is I do downhill skiing which is sort of the same, and helps me not be scared of falling or going too fast.”

Being from Seward can be beneficial but also has a drawback for Jordan. “It does make me super nervous,” she said. “I feel like I have a lot of pressure but it’s also a race I do for fun!”

(UPDATE June 27) The above section was written before Jordan announced she will not race due to illness (pneumonia).

With all but Jordan returning from the top 12 runners in 2024, who will win is anybody’s guess.

The tiny, blond-haired Spangler is a crowd favorite. As an 11-year-old in 2023 she took third. Spangler climbed to runner-up in 2024 so perhaps she’s now ready for the top step of the podium, even though she has five years of junior eligibility remaining.

Tania Boonstra of Kenai, the 2023 girls champion, will race for the last time as a junior alongside Hannah Bodkin, the Eagle River native who led at midway last year.

And don’t sleep on another 17-year-old, the 2022 champion Rosie Conway of Anchorage. After three straight top-3 finishes from 2021-23, Conway had a down year (for her) by taking seventh last year. But she has regained good form in 2025 and won the 1600-meter run at the Alaska Division 1 track and field championship in May.

“This year is going to be very competitive,” Jordan said. “I know some girls really want that first-place spot because it’s their last year or they were close to first (in the past).”

Women’s: Rhodes Rides Momentum As Race Favorite

By MATIAS SAARI
Mount Marathon Race Director

When 20-year-old Klaire Rhodes first secured an auction bib on the eve of the 2018 Mount Marathon Race, she was still relatively inexperienced and placed 26^th.

The next year she improved to 12^th. Then she cracked the Top 5 podium each year from 2021-23 — but never came closer than two minutes to claiming the oldest and most notorious mountain running race in North America.

At the time, Rhodes’ best results were still coming in ultra- and mid-distance racing — including qualifying for the 2023 World Trail Running Championships in Austria, where she placed 21^st.

So it’s understandable that race pundits didn’t peg her as the Mount Marathon favorite in 2024, considering that a Palmer trio that had gone 1-2-3 the previous year were all back along with two-time champ Hannah Lafleur and standout runner/skier Kendall Kramer of Fairbanks.

Rhodes proved them wrong. She and Kramer dropped everyone else on the 3,000-foot climb to the turnaround point and then Rhodes shed Kramer on the perilous descent and became just the fourth woman in history to run faster than 50 minutes.

Rhodes’ time of 49 minutes, 49 seconds now trails only record-holder Allie McLaughlin of Colorado, Emelie Forsberg of Sweden and Allie Ostrander, a professional runner originally from Kenai.

“It was probably the most special result of my running career,” Rhodes told the Anchorage Daily News.

Rhodes, who runs for new Mount Marathon sponsor The North Face, won’t be underestimated in 2025.

Rhodes is having a strong season, and in April placed third at the Gorge Waterfalls 100K  (her debut at the 62-mile distance) in Oregon. That result qualified her again for September’s World Trail Running Championships in Spain. She also race the Broken Arrow Skyrace 46K in California on June 21 (finishing an uncharacteristic ***) and has a 50K in Switzerland in July, so hasn’t really been targeting Mount Marathon in her training.

“But I am running and hiking with a lot of vert(ical gain),” she said. “I think fitness is fitness and I have the course experience from the past six years to be able to run a confident race.”

It’s now fair to call Rhodes the favorite among a field that remarkably returns 27 of the top 30; the only top 10 racer missing is a pregnant Lafleur (fourth place in 2024). The top 22 all broke the one-hour mark last year, shattering the record of 15 from 2022.

Even with her busy race calendar, Rhodes can’t pass up the spectacle of Mount Marathon.

“Getting the win last year, I felt a sense of relief knowing I could take a year off if I wanted to. When registration came around though, I never considered for even a moment that I wouldn’t show up!” Rhodes said. “There’s no better way to spend the 4th of July than in Seward! I’ve had both good days and bad days at this race, but have yet to feel anything but love for everything Mount Marathon is!”

If Rhodes is to repeat, she will have to earn it. Kramer, runner-up in 2024, is back with proven uphill chops; she could contend for the title if she speeds up on the downhill (or builds a big lead on the uphill).

“I definitely maximize uphill for risk mitigation on the downhill,” said Kramer, a member of the US Ski Team with Winter Olympic aspirations.

And while her downhill in 2024 took 14:59 (compared to 13:22 for Rhodes), Kramer does see a potential path to victory.

“If I’m far enough ahead or have a gap on the uphill, I am comfortable enough on the downhill now that I can maintain my place,” said Kramer, who won the Bird Ridge Hill Climb on June 15 — ahead of Rhodes — and then ran an exceptionally fast Midnight Sun Run 10K of 34:** on June 21.

Then there’s the Palmer trio:

• Christy Marvin is a three-time champ who has finished top five in all 11 of her Mount Marathon races. Now 44, she has been hampered by injuries in recent years but appears in good form after winning the Government Peak Up-Down race on June 7.
• Denali Foldager-Strabel, who grew up in Seward, won the junior girls race three times, holds the women’s fastest downhill time (11:27) and has seven top-five women’s finishes (but no victories yet).
• Meg Inokuma, now 45, set the 40-49 age-group record in 2024 of 51:59 while placing third.

Top newcomers include Kalie McCrystal, an accomplished Skyrunner, and Katarina Kuba, a talented ski mountaineer. Both hail from Squamish, British Columbia.

“Both Kalie and Katerina possess high levels of proficiency in technical terrain,” said Jessie McCauley, another racer from Squamish. “(They) have the aerobic engines and the skills necessary to take on MMR.”

Novie McCabe, a Nordic skiing Olympian, looks to improve on her eighth place from 2022.

This year’s logo contest winner is no slouch on the mountain, either. Katey Houser of Palmer, who currently skis at Montana State University, is back to defend her 10^th place finish from 2024.

Sheryl Loan’s age 60-69 record of 1:06:01 is safe for at least another year after Gail Taylor, now 60, withdrew from this year’s race due to injury. Taylor set a new 50-59 age-group record of 58:44 in 2024.

On the longevity front, Ellyn Brown of Anchorage and Patti Foldager are going for their 42^nd finishes and Yereth Rosen aims for #33.

The non-binary division, implemented last year, returns champion Zoe Dohring. They will be joined by Linnea Dohring of Anchorage and Ace Wilder of Tucson, Ariz. The trio will participate in the women’s event but have separate results in the non-binary division.

The women’s race starts with the first wave at 11:05 a.m. in downtown Seward. Waves 2 and 3 follow at 11:08 a.m. and 11:11 a.m., respectively.

Men’s: Is Norris Untouchable, Even With a Crazy Fast Field?

By MATIAS SAARI
Mount Marathon Race Director

With five wins in five tries, two questions must be asked: Is David Norris untouchable at Mount Marathon? And although he’s already running quicker than anyone imagined, can he go even faster?

Spurred by an unfathomable sub-30 minute ascent from Seward’s 3^rd Avenue to the top of Mount Marathon, Norris last year shattered his own record from 2016 by 49 seconds, finishing in 40 minutes, 37 seconds.

For context, the record Bill Spencer set in 1981 of 43:21 lasted 32 years, and now Norris has gone nearly three minutes faster.

And while Norris says he isn’t eager to “risk life and limb” to improve his record, he’s been working on his road speed this season and believes that may help him inch closer to the sub-40-minute mark at Mount Marathon. In May, his improved speed paid dividends at the U.S. Mountain Running Championships in New Hampshire — at a much less technical race than Mount Marathon — where he won and qualified to represent the USA at the World Trail Running Championships in Spain this September.

“(At Mount Marathon) if I could still descend in that 10-minute-and-change range and then improve the pavement section and maybe a few seconds on the uphill, that would kind of make the difference,” Norris said. “So we’ll see.”

If the sizable snowfield off the top remains on race day that could aid Norris, as glissading is generally faster than running and gives the legs a short break.

Despite facing perhaps the strongest field in men’s race history — the top 18 from 2024 are slated to return along with some talented newcomers — Norris is in a class of his own. In 2024, Norris won by 2:15 over 44-year-old Max King of Bend, Ore., whose 42:52 was exceptionally fast in its own right.

Canadian Jessie McAuley and brothers Ali Papillon and Bodhi Gross — former Alaskans — also broke the 45-minute benchmark, a time that until 2010 virtually guaranteed victory.

Norris grew up in Fairbanks, lived in Anchorage as an elite Nordic ski racer and now resides in Steamboat Springs, Colo. What keeps bringing him back to Mount Marathon?

“Outside of the race, it’s the excuse to come see friends and family,” Norris said on June 5 while at the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where he accepted the men’s Pride of Alaska award. “(For the race) nothing else compares to it with how raw it is, the fans that are all there. The day itself is so exciting. It’s so steep, so gnarly. It’s so fun.”

McAuley, the Canadian from Squamish, British Columbia, also recognizes Mount Marathon as something special. He improved to third last year in 44:02 after taking sixth in his 2019 debut.

“Mount Marathon is without question the most technical trail running race in North America,” said McAuley, who represents Arc’teryx, which signed on a new Mount Marathon sponsor in 2025. “I have always excelled at steep, rugged, and fast ascents and descents. MMR is all of that packed into a short effort.”

The 97 years of history is also not lost on McAuley. “I strongly value the sense of community and deep history of the event,” he said. “There’s nothing quite like it on our side of the globe.”

The men’s and women’s race starts alternate annually and this year the men’s will go on the afternoon, which generally feature larger crowds. The men’s first wave starts at 2:05 p.m. on July 4 in downtown Seward, followed by Wave 2 at 2:08 p.m. and Wave 3 at 2:11 p.m.

The question remains: can anyone beat, or even closely challenge, Norris?

“I think if (Norris) has a smooth race it is unlikely for someone to go faster. Especially with his knowledge of racing MMR,” McAuley said. “However, it’s racing. You never know.”

(Update) Olympic skier Luke Jager is a late entrant after earning a bib by winning the Bird Ridge Hill Climb on June 15.

The roster also includes Jeret Gillingham of Bellingham, Wash., who took sixth as a rookie in 2024. Four others — Nevada resident Darren Thomas and Alaskans Michael Earnhart, Lars Arneson and Lyon Kopsack — all have top-five finishes on their resumes but slipped to 7^th to 10^th place in 2024.
(Update June 29: Darren Thomas will not race due to injury)

Arneson, a five-time Alaska Mountain Runners Grand Prix series champion, is juggling parental duties for his newborn son.

“It’s been a blast taking Wout up some local peaks, but we’ve been sticking closer to home and I haven’t been in the mountains nearly as much as I normally am this time of year,” said Arneson, adding that he hopes more biking this spring may translate into mountain speed.

There are also several past Top 10 performers returning to the race after missing 2024. Bayton Menton of Oregon, Zack Bursell of Juneau, Ben Marvin of Palmer and Taylor Turney of Anchorage  — who blitzed a record 9:54 downhill in 2023 — fall into that category.

Then there are highly touted rookies including William McGovern (winner of the 2025 Turnagain Arm Trail Race), and former professional skier Braden Becker of Yarmouth, Maine.

And don’t forget Coby Marvin, the three-time junior boys champion who is aging up to the men’s race. Marvin owns the second-fastest junior time in history and is no stranger to longer mountain efforts.

The host town of Seward has 150 racers combined in the junior, women’s and men’s events. The top dog in Seward could again come down to a battle between James Carlberg, Pyper Dixon and Erik Johnson, who finished within seconds of one another last year in 16^th, 17^th and 18^th places, respectively. (Word is that Carlberg is in particularly good shape this year).

On the longevity front, Braun Kopsack is going for his 47^th finish, Everett Billingslea his 43^rd, Steven “Crazy Billy” Carroll his 43^rd and Lance Kopsack his 41^st.

Fred Moore of Seward, 85, tops them all with 54 consecutive finishes, although he said recently that he’s unsure whether he’ll run this year.

Not to be outdone, 89-year-old Chad Resari of Anchorage is again entered as a Golden Racer, which awards a finish for covering half the mountain. Last year Resari finished in 1:49:11 and high-fived fans on the homestretch.

Only 71 entrants exceed the age of 60 but Mark Tatum of Colorado is among the most acclaimed; perhaps he’ll challenge Barney Griffith’s 60-69 age group mark of 53:34. While Mount Marathon is the oldest mountain race in North America, the Dipsea in California is the oldest trail race, and Tatum has the rare distinction of winning the age- and gender-handicapped race as a non-Californian.

Of the 1,064 runners still entered on June 7, 900 hailed from Alaska (84.6 percent). The rest came from three other countries — Canada, Germany and France — and 31 other states.