Volunteer positions for the Mount Marathon Race are now posted at SignUp Genius; thank you in advance for helping us put on a great race! For more information about volunteering, visit: https://mountmarathon.com/volunteer/
To go directly to the Signup Genius listings, visit: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C45ACA62EABFBC43-mount#/ More than 300 volunteers are needed in a wide variety of positions July 3-4 in town and on the mountain — thank you for your support!
Volunteers get our gratitude and a t-shirt with the 2024 logo design. Volunteering is also a great way for supporters (and racers) to contribute to the event. Please help spread the word!
The Mount Marathon Race now has a permanent logo created by Moose Pass native Sarah Glaser.
The core logo is red, white and blue and shows the letter M in the shape of two mountain summits. It includes an outline of the race trail and a tsunami wave as a nod to Seward’s maritime location. The logo package includes multiple iterations of the words Mount Marathon combined with the logo.
“With this logo, we wanted to create a modern, enduring symbol of the rugged, exciting nature of the race — while celebrating Mount Marathon’s amazing geography,” Glaser said.
The logo will be used for merchandise, signage, promotion, a new start banner, and a myriad of other purposes.
Glaser grew up in Moose Pass just outside of Seward and first participated in the Mount Marathon Race at age 14. She’s completed 10 adult races with a best of 11th place in 2014.
“I love that the event is an excellent motivation to climb mountains and celebrate running,” Glaser said.
Through her business, Sarah K. Glaser Illustration, she has created various logos, maps, book illustrations, murals and more. Other examples of her work can be viewed at sarahkglaser.be
The Mount Marathon permanent logo will NOT replace the annual t-shirt design contest. That contest will continue each March/April and be used for each year’s racer and volunteer t-shirts and patches.
Tommy Snyder of Seward is the winner of the 2024 Mount Marathon t-shirt design contest.
Snyder’s entry, an acryllic painting, depicts a silhouetted mountain goat atop a peak and four racers hiking a steep slope. A blazing orange sun forms the background. The Mount Marathon Race Committee chose it as their favorite among 32 entries.
Snyder happened to notice a posting about the t-shirt design contest while registering for the 2024 race.
“I’ve done a little bit of acrylic painting over the years and had recently picked up supplies to get back into it, so I thought the t-shirt contest was a great way to start painting again,” Snyder said. “I’ve typically created silhouette style with animals because I love sunrises and sunsets and critters, especially mountain goats.”
The design will be used on the 2024 racer and volunteer t-shirts, on this year’s patch and for other promotional purposes.
Snyder has lived in Seward full-time for three years and seasonally for 10 years. He came to Seward to work in charter fishing and is now a sightseeing tour captain. This year will mark his second time participating in Mount Marathon.
“I’ve been told a mountain goat is my spirit animal. And I see them often around Seward,” Snyder said.
For the women’s and men’s races, additional race spots are offered through an online auction on Monday, April 29.
There is no auction for the juniors race.
The Online Auction Process
On May 1, three race slots will be auctioned for both the men’s and women’s races in a live online auction on Zoom. These are intended to give an opportunity for Alaskans or out-of-staters who require more planning than the July 3 auction to lock in a spot more than two months before race day.
Each participant must be set up to join a Zoom meeting (those lacking the technology or knowledge should join a friend’s or family member’s account).
Participants are STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to join on a desktop computer or laptop with an Internet plan as opposed to a mobile phone that uses a data plan. The auction is much better viewed on a computer. Also, being perfectly synched with the auctioneer’s voice for bidding purposes is more likely achieved on a computer.
The Zoom site will open at 5 p.m. on Monday, April 29 (30 minutes before the auction starts) to allow participants time for testing their technology.
The actual auction will start at 5:30 p.m. SHARP. The three women’s bibs will be auctioned first followed immediately by the three men’s bibs.
The Seward Chamber of Commerce is not responsible for anyone whose bids fail to come through promptly due to connectivity issues or other technological problems.
Use Gallery view; this will enable participants to see the auctioneer and other contestants.
Participants will be muted by the auctioneer.
All bidding must be done through the chat function (test the chat when you join by posting your name and location)
If the person who intends to race is unable to attend the live auction, another person may bid for them.
Each WINNING bidder must text their name and phone number to 907-529-4178. Organizers will follow up shortly after the auction ends for credit card payment in full.
Auctions winners who have never entered the lottery will receive a registration link to get them added to the MMR database and entered for 2024.
Auction winners will be “priority” entrants in 2024, meaning they can requalify through the Top 50 Percent in Age Group Rule.
The race director will determine auction winners’ bib and wave assignments based on their credentials.
Those who fail to win an online auction spot have another chance for entry at the in-person auction at 6 p.m. July 3 at Seward High School. 7 men’s and 7 women’s spots will be auctioned then.
The Mount Marathon Race has added a non-binary division, joining a growing number of events nationwide that include an option for those who identify with a gender beyond the binary categories of male and female.
The non-binary option was added to registration on March 15.
“The Mount Marathon Race has a long history addressing inequities among women, girls, older racers and other groups,” race director Matias Saari said. “But this is the first time we’ve created a policy that benefits the LGBTQ+ community. Runners who identify as non-binary deserve to be recognized and have a welcoming space for participation.”
Anyone who completes priority registration or a lottery application through March 31, 2024, will now have the option to select non-binary. Those who have already registered may switch to non-binary by emailing register@mountmarathon.com
The non-binary division will have its own results and non-binary participants will receive the same overall and age-group awards as participants in the men’s, women’s, boys’ and girls’ divisions.
Because the event has separate gendered races, adult non-binary entrants will need to choose to participate in the men’s or women race and will be placed in a start wave that corresponds with their ability.
Non-binary juniors will simply join the juniors’ race because boys and girls run together in a single wave.
Zoe Dohring, 34, of Anchorage plans to enter the Mount Marathon lottery and hopes to participate as a non-binary entrant in 2024.
“I’ve dreamed of running in Mount Marathon for all the 10 years that I’ve lived in Alaska, but I’ve chosen to not join the lottery in recent years, knowing that I no longer fit in the category devoted to my sex assigned at birth,” Dohring said.
Dohring was the first participant in the non-binary division when Anchorage’s Mayor’s Marathon added that option in 2022, but their options as a non-binary racer in Alaska have been extremely limited.
“The point was never to win (at Mayors),” said Dohring, who teaches gender studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage and has long advocated for greater safety and acceptance of transgender people in Alaska. “I wanted to be seen. I wanted to belong, to feel accepted. I wanted to know I was just as worthy of being in community as anybody else, and that is still my desire.”
The new Non-binary Runner Policy was recently approved by both the Mount Marathon Race Committee and the Seward Chamber Board of Directors.
According to the Non-Binary Racing Database, more than 300 events in the United States now allow non-binary registration. Some of the world’s biggest events, such as the Chicago, New York, Boston, London and Berlin Marathons, have growing non-binary divisions. For instance, the Chicago Marathon had 70 non-binary entrants when it first offered the option in 2022 and the number rose to 242 a year later.
The race committee welcomes constructive feedback; comments may be sent to race director Matias Saari at director@mountmarathon.com and/or race committee member Amy Haddow at akhaddow@gmail.com
In addition to their logo being used for all MMR 2024 promotional purposes, the winning designer will receive a $250 cash prize!
How to Enter the Contest
Contest opens March 13, 2024
Deadline for submissions is 11:59 P.M on Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Winners will be announced in early-April via email, mountmarathon.com, and the Seward Chamber of Commerce’s social media channels
For your entry to be reviewed by our selection committee, it must be:
Submitted directly to director@mountmarathon.com
Submitted in its original source file (a scalable, vector format such as .ai or .eps).
Submitted as a high resolution .pdf with 300 dpi or higher.
Logo Requirements
Theme: To best convey the unique nature of the Mount Marathon Race, the logo design must include a mountain theme.
Language: The design MUST include the following words or phrases:
Mount Marathon Race
96th Running
Seward, Alaska
July 4, July 4th, or Fourth of July AND the year 2024
Color: The design may include a maximum of four colors. There are no limitations on the specific colors. The logo must look professional in color and black and white.
Integrity: Logos cannot contain copyrighted material. Logos must have been created and edited by the contestant(s). Logos may not include images or licensed images that have been previously published. Must be easily reproducible and scalable for large and small formatting.
One winning logo design will be selected by the Mount Marathon Race Committee.
Contestants agree that the Seward Chamber of Commerce may publish their logo and name(s) and may use both for future advertising campaigns and/or marketing materials.
Contestants may only submit one logo per contest but are free to apply again in the future.
Contestants assign all ownership rights, including all intellectual property rights to the logo, to the Mount Marathon Race and Seward Chamber of Commerce.
The Mount Marathon Race Committee and Seward Chamber of Commerce may alter, modify or revise the winning logo as necessary for its intended use.
The Mount Marathon Race Committee reserves the right to not select a winner if, in its sole discretion, no suitable entries are received.
Prize
The winning designer will receive $250 and bragging rights!
