Online Auction For 2023

Registration for the 95th Mount Marathon Race will open at 7 a.m. Tuesday, March 1 and runs through midnight on March 31.

There are two options for registration at the home page of this website: Priority Registration for those who qualify and Lottery Registration for first-timers and those without priority.

The cost to enter under priority registration remains $85 for adults and $35 for juniors.
The cost to enter the lottery remains $20 for adults and $15 for juniors (lottery winners will be invoiced the balance of the full registration fee in April).

The 2023 roster will apply the Top 50 Percent in Age Group Rule to the 2022 results. This rule aims to improve lottery odds and increase the number of lottery spots available.
Visit the race’s home page to access 2022 age group results that show who finished in the top 50 percent of their age group.

Visit https://mountmarathon.com/racer-selection/ for all entry options and rules.

The defending champions are Allie McLaughlin, who set a women’s record in 2022; Max King (men); Coby Marvin (boys) and Rose Conway (girls).

The race date is Tuesday, July 4.

 

LIVESTREAM and FINISH CAM

For the first time, the Mount Marathon Race in 2022 will attempt a Livestream of the men’s and women’s races.

To view, visit the home page of our website at www.mountmarathon.com SHORTLY BEFORE THE RACE START and at the top click on the “Stream the Race Live” and “View the Finish Cam” buttons.

The race will also be linked on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

For 2022, this is a modest experiment that, if it goes well, will be expanded in the future.

Consistent coverage of the start and finish areas is expected. There will also be cameras staged at mid-mountain and the top of the mountain; the quality of this coverage is uncertain and dependent on technology working in a busy town with limited Internet bandwidth.
Anchorage radio reporter Lex Treinen will be announcing and interviewing racers from the men’s and women’s finish, Holly Brooks will join for the men’s race and Matias Saari will join for parts of the women’s finish.

We’ll also have a separate “Finish Cam” trained solely on the finish line for the duration of the time racers are crossing the line. The finish cam will also include statistics and standings from the race.

The Anchorage video production company Jensen Hall Creative is directing the Livestream.

Historically, the Anchorage TV stations Channel 2 (KTUU) and Channel 11 (KTVA) televised many Mount Marathon races. These productions involved satellite trucks, helicopters (some years) and considerable expense and resources. The last televised production was in 2019 and broadcasting the race in this manner is not expected to return. Many of those races can still be viewed on YouTube.

 

By MATIAS SAARI

Olive Jordan could hardly believe her ears when told her that she was needed at the 2021 junior girls podium ceremony.

Her legs, lungs and heart had done extraordinary work, powering the 11-year-old from Seward to a 12-minute improvement from her rookie effort in 2018.

What’s more, with the 2021 race featuring seven waves of 50 runners as a COVID-19 mitigation measure, Jordan had to pass many runners with a head start on her. She had no idea how well she’d actually performed.

“I knew I did my personal best, but I didn’t know it would be that good,” Jordan said May 26 while on vacation with family on Cape Cod.

Making the podium wasn’t even an afterthought.

“My goal was to beat two boys that beat me last time,” Olive said, adding that she successfully did so.

Olive’s mother, Christy, was also surprised.

“I thought she won her age group but at least 20 teenagers had crossed before her (due to the wave start),” she said.

Olive trained on Mount Marathon about once weekly last year. Christy knew she was in shape but just how fit was a mystery.

“We hadn’t practiced with timing her so had no idea about time. I knew she was faster than me,” said Christy, who ran the women’s race.

Olive spent less time on the mountain this year due to running track at school and being stranded on Lowell Point, where his family lives, after a massive landslide closed Lowell Point Road for several weeks. However, she planned to train on Mount Marathon for almost a month after returning from the East Coast.

With 2021 junior champ Lucy Young aging up to the women’s race, the top returner is 2021 runner-up Jayna Boonstra of Kenai, the 16-year-old daughter of four-time men’s champion Todd Boonstra. Rose Conway of Anchorage (third last year) also figures to be in the mix.

For the boys, the race is shaping up to be a duel between Ali Papillon, 17, of Boulder, Colo., and Coby Marvin, 15, of Palmer. Papillon, a former Alaskan, ran 28:16 last year to win by 23 seconds.

Papillon impressively raced to 18^th place at the Broken Arrow 26K Skyrace last month, by far the best result for a teenager.

Marvin placed 6^th at the Government Peak up-down race on June 4, more than 18 minutes ahead of the next teen.

Third-place Bayden Menton of Oregon and fourth-place Brady Burrough of Anchorage have aged in to the men’s race.

This year’s junior race will return to a mass start of about 275 runners at 9 a.m. on July 4.

All 57 girls and 54 of the 69 boys who entered the lottery gained spots in this year’s event.

 

Past Boys and Girls Champions: https://mountmarathon.com/winners/

Age Group Records: https://mountmarathon.com/age-records/

 

By MATIAS SAARI

If hometown hero Hannah Lafleur is going to win a third Mount Marathon, she’ll likely have to repeat the feat of her 2021 and 2019 victories by chasing down exceptional climbers who have built a substantial lead.

Last year Rosie Frankowski, an Olympic Nordic skier who trains with Alaska Pacific University, put 2 ½ minutes on Lafleur with one of the fastest climbs in history only to see it evaporate after Lafleur ran the third-fastest women’s downhill ever of 11 minutes, 44 seconds. Lafleur also had to chase down and then hold off Ruby Lindquist of Moose Pass, who nearly won with a breakout performance.

This year’s field of ascenders look be even stronger with the addition of Olympian Novie McCabe from Washington and Coloradoan Allie McLaughlin, both of whom possess serious climbing chops.

“I am excited and honored to be a part of such an inspiring field of women,” Lafleur said.

She respects the climbing prowess of the competition but reminds fans that Mount Marathon goes up and down.

“I imagine there are some incredible uphill engines. But the race is never over until you get to the Yukon Bar!” said Lafleur, a Seward kayak company manager and guide. “The variety of skillsets it takes is what makes this race so special.”

Back to those uphill engines. There’s Frankowski, who will be a threat if she continues to improve her downhill. And McLaughlin holds the coveted fastest known time on the Incline in Manitou Springs, Colo., a steep and popular route up a former cog railway. She also has won the Pike’s Peak Ascent twice and claimed the competitive Broken Arrow Skyrace Vertical K event in California the last two years.

McLaughlin also placed second (to Olympian Sophia Laukli) at last month’s Broken Arrow 26K and showed she was more than capable on technical terrain, a crucial skill on Mount Marathon’s downhill.

“My goals are to go as fast as I can and still be able to run the next day,” said McLaughlin, adding that she shies away from the “real edgy” terrain in Colorado but has been targeting Mount Marathon with more specific training this spring.

McLaughlin has been waiting to race Mount Marathon for more than two years as she was registered for the canceled 2020 race and chose to defer last year.

“It feels like more than a running race to me — like an extreme sport,” said McLaughlin, who also enjoys a different extreme recreational activity: skydiving.

Meanwhile, the 20-year-old McCabe — a teammate of Alaskan Luke Jager at the University of Utah — is coming off a successful Winter Olympics in China, where she placed 18^th in the 30K freestyle. Her best result last season was 7th in the final stage of the Tour de Ski in Italy, which finishes with a brutal climb up an Alpine ski hill and benefits athletes with high aerobic capacities.

McCabe watched the 2021 Mount Marathon in person and that inspired her to race this year.

“Unconventional running races like this are always super exciting so I’m stoked to get to participate,” said McCabe, whose Olympic teammate Sophia Laukli was also registered for Mount Marathon but withdrew due to a schedule conflict. Salomon’s Bailey Kowalczyk of Colorado also canceled her entry.

The depth of this year’s field is phenomenal. Only 60 women have run faster than one hour in the 94-year history of the race and 25 of them are entered this year (though some are past their prime). In 2021, fourteen women broke the one-hour barrier, a mark that could be bested this year with nine of the top 10 returning along with many other stellar entrants.

They include two-time champion Christy Marvin of Palmer, now 41. She’s never finished outside the top 3 in eight races and possesses a downhill nearly on par with Lafleur’s. She also beat Frankowski by three minutes and Lafleur by seven upon winning the Government Peak up-and-down race on June 4.

Lurking amid the chatter is Lindquist, who wrapped up her senior season of track and field at Black Hills State University in South Dakota before returning to Seward to prepare for Mount Marathon.

“After last year’s race, I learned that there is no reason I shouldn’t be trying to race with the top women in the field,” said Lindquist, who has been formulating a mountain-focused training plan with Erik Johnson, Seward’s perennial top 10 men’s performer. “I think adding new competition and bringing back great competitors will only motivate me to prepare well and be ready for an awesome race!”

Lindquist has some work to do in order to contend again at Mount Marathon. At the Bird Ridge mountain race on June 19 (not necessarily a good predictor for Mount Marathon), she placed a distant third while Lafleur was fourth.

The field also includes Klaire Rhodes, winner of the 2022 Bird Ridge; Meg Inokuma of Palmer, second at Bird Ridge; former US Ski Team member Kendall Kramer; Salomon’s Olivia Amber from San Francisco; past champion and two-time Olympian Holly Brooks; Najeeby Quinn (six Top-6 Mount Marathon performances) and Denali Strabel (six Top-5s at Mount Marathon).

Patti Foldager and Ellyn Brown are also entered; they have the most longevity among women with 38 finishes apiece.

 

Results from this season’s Alaska Mountain Runners’ Grand Prix races:

Knoya Ridge (uphill only) – HERE

Government Peak (up and down) – HERE

Bird Ridge (uphill only) – HERE

 

MMR List of Champions and other stats HERE

MMR Age Group Records: https://mountmarathon.com/age-records/

Historic results database (search for any racer): https://mountmarathon.com/results/search-race-results/

Updated Women’s Roster by Alpha: https://mountmarathon.com/?division=womens