Brown, now 57, clocked 1 hour, 4 minutes, 46 seconds, for the trip up and down the 3,022-foot peak in Seward, and that was 9:08 faster than the next finisher in the women's 50-59 age-group.
Griffith, now 52, finished in 50:17, less than two minutes off the 50-59 age-group record of 48:23 he set to finish seventh in 2008.
Griffith topped his age group by 2:10, and led a contingent of five guys in the 50-59 age-group who finished in the top 25 overall. Here's how the others -- age listed is their current age -- finished: Eddie Baxter, 56, took 13th in 52:27; former champion Sam Young, 55, took 21st in 54:50; Karl Romig, 52, claimed 23rd in 55:49; and Fred Thomas, 55, finished 25th in 56:06.
Brown led three women 50 or older among the top 30 overall last year. The others were Leila Dengel, now 57, who took 26th in 1:13:54, and two-time former race champion Patti Foldager, now 52, who took 30th in 1:14:35.
Staying power
This year marks the 41st Mount Marathon for Fred Moore of Seward, who has run the race more than anyone and who with Sunday's 83rd running of the race will mark his record 41st consecutive appearance in the Fourth of July race.
Moore, now 70, last year finished 121st in 1:16:13. Note that the 70-79 age-group record is 1:16:52, set by Jerre Wills in 2007, when he was 70. Moore still owns the 60-69 record of 1:00:56 in 2000, when he was 60.
Flip Foldager, now 53, of Seward, celebrated his 30th race at Mount Marathon, and finished 52nd in 1:03:18.
Braun Kopsack, now 53, ran his 32nd Mount Marathon last year and finished 39th in 1:00:05 -- those excruciating last few seconds marked the first time he did not finish in less than one hour.
Going strong at 80
Of course, none of those 50 and older runners has anything on Corky Corthell.
All Corthell did last year at age 80 was establish the men's record for the 80-89 age-group. He clocked 1:52:59 to finish 267th.
That put Corthell ahead of 37 other finishers, all younger than him. And among that group were 15 guys who were all less than half Corthell's age.
Torn ACL won't keep Kenney out
Matt Kenney of Anchorage has twice finished Mount Marathon in less than an hour, but Sunday he hopes to simply get up and down the mountain safely after a training injury last week in Seward derailed any hope of a fast time.
Kenney, 39, was descending Mount Marathon during training June 27 when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
Said Kenney, a former Service High wrestler and football player who competed in college and has endured multiple surgeries on his left knee: "Coming down the gut (of the mountain), I planted my right leg and it popped. I knew what was wrong right away. I was like, 'That just did not happen,' and ended up limping off the mountain.''
Kenney, who missed Mount Marathon last year because of shoulder surgery, said his knee feels fine biking. But he has been advised not to run on it, so he's going to hike the mountain in Sunday's race and undergo surgery some time after that.
"It's a bummer,'' Kenney said. "I'm trying to stay positive.''
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