As extraordinary as Emelie Forsberg's record-shattering performance proved Saturday in winning the women's Mount Marathon race – she hacked 2 minutes, 42 seconds off Nancy Pease's 1990 standard – it failed to break ground on a couple of fronts.
Forsberg's time of 47:48 for the journey up and down the 3,022-footer in Seward would have placed the Swede 17th in the men's field. She also finished just 6 minutes slower than record-breaking men's winner Spaniard Kilian Jornet (41:48), her boyfriend.
Yet when you consider how multiple-time past women's champions Pease, Carmen Young, Cedar Bourgeois and Nina Kemppel fared compared to the men in their winning years, some exceeded or matched Forsberg. Six-time champion Pease remains the best woman in that regard.
Pease in 1989 posted a 51:13 that would have been fourth in the men's field. Her 1990 record of 50:30, the mark Forsberg erased, would have been fifth among men. And she also delivered winning times later in the 1990s that would have placed her ninth, 11th and 13th among men, respectively.
On four other occasions, Pease finished far closer to the winning men's time than Forsberg did Saturday.
In the best of those, Pease in 1989 finished just 1:57 slower than men's winner Michael Graham and in 1990 finished just 2:33 slower than men's champion Marten Martensen.
Four-time champion Carmen Young (later Carmen Dunham) in 1987 won in a time that would have placed sixth among men, and her time in 1986 would have placed ninth. She matched Forsberg in 1988, when her time would have been 17th among men.
Also, Young in 1986 finished within 5:22 of the winning men's times posted by Bill Spencer and Sam Young – that remains the only tie in 88 editions of Mount Marathon – and in 1987 finished within 5:42 of Jim Renkert's winning time.
Seven-time women's champion Cedar Bourgeois in 2005 won in a time that would have placed 15th among men. In 2008, her time would have been 17th. Bourgeois in 2007 also finished just 6:07 slower than men's winner Brad Precosky, the six-time champ.
Nina Kemppel, who holds records at Mount Marathon with nine victories overall and eight consecutive, won in 2000 with a time that slotted her 17th among all racers.
Still, Forsberg's record 47:48 was faster than four of the winning men's times in the last 30 years. But note that conditions were almost perfect Saturday -- overcast and cool weather, and an almost bone-dry course. And the women's late-morning race starts nearly four hours before the men's mid-afternoon start. Matias Saari won the men's race in 48:00 in 2009, for instance, when temperatures were searing, and significantly hotter than during the women's race.
Uphill, downhill
Forsberg in her victory clocked both the fastest known women's climb and fastest known descent – splits have been reported for racers in the last 10 Mount Marathons.
Forsberg's 36:17 on the uphill was 1:49 faster than Brooks' previous standard, 38:06 in 2010. Allie Ostrander, 18, runner-up in her women's debut Saturday after six straight wins in the girls junior race, delivered a 37:08 climb that was 58 seconds faster than Brooks' previous mark.
Forsberg's descent of 11:32 eclipsed by 16 seconds Bourgeois' 11:48 downhill, which was previously the fastest. Only nine men descended faster than Forsberg on Saturday. Last year, only six men descended faster than women's runner-up and 2013 champ Christy Marvin, who clocked 12:04.
On the men's side Saturday, runner-up Rickey Gates clocked 31:26 to the top, the fastest known climb in race history.
Jornet was just one second back in 31:27 and third-place finisher Jim Shine just behind him in 31:29.
Before Gates, Jornet and Shine all charged up the mountain Saturday, the fastest known ascent was Gates' 32:24. That came in 2013, when he debuted with a runner-up finish, eclipsed by Eric Strabel, who won in 42:55, the record Jornet lowered by 67 seconds Saturday.
Jornet's 10:22 downhill Saturday was the fourth-fastest known descent. Strabel's 10:00 in 2013 is the standard.
The second-fastest downhill Saturday came from 19-year-old Lyon Kopsack, who clocked 10:47 and finished 12th overall. The 2013 junior champion moved up four spots from his 2014 debut in the senior race, when he finished 16th and posted the fifth-fastest downhill.
All overall times and race splits from the 2015 Mount Marathon are available at mmr.seward.com/live-race-results
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr