Former college runner and three-time junior Mount Marathon champion Denali Foldager used that treacherous race on the unforgiving slopes overlooking her hometown of Seward to escape a spiral of addiction and gain a foothold on sobriety.
Stay-at-home mom and 2013 champion Christy Marvin used the grind up that steep pitch and the harrowing descent down it to honor her family and test her limits.
And, for two-time champ Holly Brooks, a detour into the emergency room, during the 2009 race, prompted an epiphany that served as the springboard to launching, and seizing, her Olympic dream.
Small wonder, then, filmmakers Max Romey of Anchorage and Natalie Fedak used the stories of those women and other racers as crystallizing threads in "3022 ft.'' – their documentary on the 2014 Mount Marathon race.
The 63-minute film, which premieres at the Bear Tooth Theatrepub with two showings Wednesday night, employs the mountain as metaphor, hence the film's subtitle: "We all have mountains to climb.''
The film chronicles the adventurous and the intimate, and details the perils of the mountain and the piercing pain it inflicts on racers every Fourth of July. (Full disclosure: I've raced Mount Marathon twice, reported on it for more than a quarter century and have a soft spot for it.)
Romey, the former Service High runner and the film's principal cinematographer, and Fedak, the writer, crafted their story from abundant prerace and post-race interviews with principals in the junior, women's and men's race, and used footage from more than 20 cameras employed on race day. The athletes – sans narrator -- tell the story of a day in which racers were tormented by the heat, and the mountain.
The film chronicles all three races, and includes interviews with six-time junior champion Allie Ostrander and three-time men's champion and race record-holder Eric Strabel. There's Rickey Gates, the Outsider who drove Strabel to the record in 2013 and in just two trips to Alaska has come to feel like he has family here. There's candor from Najeeby Quinn and 2012 champion Matt Novakovich,
And there is a particular and compelling focus on the women's race, which featured the closest 1-2 finish in the history of a race run 87 times since 1915. Still, the film goes beyond race coverage and explores what the race means to those who run it.
"It's about finding yourself on the mountain,'' Fedak said. "It's about a mountain, a connection with a race, a connection with a town and a connection with a running community.''
What we get is a magnificent panorama of the 3,022-foot beast that overlooks Resurrection Bay – hence, the film's title – and race footage so up-close and revealing you can almost choke on the mountain's dust and feel the breakneck speed of the descent.
Yet, the film's narrative is as much about personal journeys as it is about racing.
"The stories themselves were gold,'' Romey said.
We get race committee member and 35-time racer, the genial, slyly-humored Flip Foldager, Denali's dad, taking us on a tour of the mountain. We see him conduct the annual safety meeting for rookies the night before the race and being most blunt: "If you have not been up the mountain at least one time and know what you're doing, go home.''
We get Brooks telling the story of her Olympic epiphany. She recalls the day she checked into the emergency room, checked herself out against doctor's orders to finish the race, and returned to the emergency room for more intravenous fluids. We also get the two-time Olympic nordic skier's funny, honest assessment of her struggles late in the race and her collapse upon finishing.
"Some people are like, 'A win's a win, whether you win by a second or by a minute,' '' Brooks muses. "I'm like, 'Well, yeah, it's kinda true.' I just wish it was with a little more grace.''
We get Marvin, on the verge of tears, explaining how her family's support motivates her.
"I think to myself as I am hiking up these mountains, 'Gosh, look what everyone has given to get me here, where I am,' '' Marvin says. "The least I can do is give it my very best.''
And we get Denali Foldager, poignantly, tearfully seeking to grant herself forgiveness and rediscover the happy-go-lucky spirit she possessed as a girl in love with the mountain she grew up on.
"Mount Marathon to me this year is more about trying to find who that girl was, and I want her back,'' she says.
All of that helps explains the lure of a race that every Independence Day attracts spectators by the thousands, and draws back many racers year after year after year for a journey that is about more than just time and finishing position.
"I don't think that is ever really over,'' Marvin says in the film. "I think once the racing on the mountain is in your blood, it's in your blood.
"And that's why people do it so many years. It's never really over.''
Reach reporter Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr
"3022 ft."
WHAT: Premiere of "3022 ft.,'' a 63-minute documentary of 2014 Mount Marathon race by filmmakers Max Romey and Natalie Fedak
WHEN: Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
WHERE: Bear Tooth Theatrepub, 1230 W. 27th Ave. Tickets $10 at door.
ALSO: Question and answer session afterward with filmmakers and athletes.
WEBSITES: 3022ft.com and maxromeyproductions.jimdo.com