Mount Marathon coverage

When perennial contender Eric Strabel crossed the finish line Monday to win his first Mount Marathon title in 12 attempts, he let loose the scream of a madman.

Ostrander 3-peats in junior girls race; boys winner fastest in years

Holly Brooks reaches the turnaround point of Mount Marathon during the 2011 Mount Marathon race with eventual winner Kikkan Randall right on her heels. Randall took the lead from Brooks in the last quarter-mile of the 31/2-mile run up and down the 3,022-foot peak.

Looking gritty in pink, Kikkan Randall and Holly Brooks staged one of the most stirring duels in Mount Marathon history Monday, running neck-and-neck almost the entire way in the 84th edition of Alaska's most famous footrace.

Ostrander 3-peats in junior girls race; boys winner fastest in years

Ostrander 3-peats in junior girls race; boys winner fastest in years

MOUNT MARATHON

Miles Knotek races toward a first place finish among junior boys. Juniors raced to the halfway pole on the 3,022-foot high mountain and back to the streets of Seward in the 2011 Mount Marathon race on July 4, 2011.

Based on what Soldotna's Allie Ostrander has done in her last four Mount Marathons, it's scary to think what she might do in her three remaining years in the junior division.

MOUNT MARATHON

The over-the-hill gang did a pretty nice job on the mountain Monday. The men who won the three oldest age-group titles etched their names into the Mount Marathon record book, in one way or another.

Men, women, boys and girls top finishers

Ostrander, Knotek claim junior Mount Marathon victories

Anchorage runner Eric Strabel, 29, won the men's Mount Marathon race today with a time of 44 minutes and 40 seconds. This is Strabel's 12th Mount Marathon attempt. He previously finished second four times. Kikkan Randall won the women's race.

Cedar OK with walking away while still on Mount Marathon top

Ostrander, Knotek claim junior Mount Marathon victories

Allie Ostrander of Soldotna crushed her own record today in the girls junior Mount Marathon. Miles Knotek of Moose Pass, meantime, ran what is believed to be the second-fastest overall time in the junior race history.

Cedar OK with walking away while still on Mount Marathon top

Joy Eastman, mother of eight, including four boys who all ran Mount Marathon as kids, will make her Mount Marathon debut today at age 66. While others will honor Independence Day by waving American flags and wearing various combinations of red, white and blue, Eastman will honor her son by running the race he once ran.

Cedar OK with walking away while still on Mount Marathon top

Cedar Bourgeois rounds the flagpole at the top of Mount Marathon just ahead of Kikkan Randall July 4, 2010. Though Bourgeois was second to the top of the mountain, she passed Holly Brooks to win the women's Mount Marathon race.

The 350 women racing Mount Marathon today will experience something new to almost all of them. They will pass seven-time and reigning champion Cedar Bourgeois on their way up the 3,022-foot mountain in Seward.

37 years later, Spencer still king of Mount Marathon

Top contenders, statistics about the trail, the best places to watch.

Bill Spencer descends the lower half of Mount Marathon during the 1991 race in Seward.

After a trip to Seward late last week to check out conditions on Mount Marathon -- the famous peak that is the Mount Olympus of Alaska, the place where our toughest and studliest athletes achieve almost godlike status -- race legend Bill Spencer pronounced the mountain fit for Monday's 84th edition of the race.

Pease's Mount Marathon record for women among Alaska elite

Pease's Mount Marathon record for women among Alaska elite

Nancy Pease picks up speed at the bottom of the chute on Mount Marathon during the 1989 race, the year before she set the record.

Record books aren't carved in stone, it just seems that way when it comes to Alaska's most storied mountain race.

Man hurt in fall hoisted by helicopter from Mount Marathon

All time fastest times

A 20-year-old Seward man who suffered spinal injuries in a fall while hiking Mount Marathon was rescued by helicopter Wednesday night, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Trond Flagstad's legs felt fresh, practically springy, even as he powered up a mountain that averages a thigh-thumping 38-degree incline and occasionally reaches a pulverizing pitch of 60 degrees.

Alexander Babos closed his junior career on Mount Marathon in style Sunday morning, and record-busting Allie Ostrander again showed she could be dominating for years.

Given her earnest training, sharp fitness and encyclopedic knowledge of the 3,022-foot monument to pain that serves as the race course, Cedar Bourgeois had never needed to summon the force of her will to win Mount Marathon.

Racers take trail to triumph on Mount Marathon today

2010 MOUNT MARATHON

Seward’s Cedar Bourgeois today chases her seventh consecutive Mount Marathon title, which would leave her just one shy of matching Nina Kemppel’s race-record run of eight straight victories in Seward from 1996 to 2003.

Dehydration felled two of Mount Marathon's best

2010 MOUNT MARATHON

Among the legion of fans lined along Jefferson Street in Seward to watch the men's Mount Marathon race last Fourth of July, Holly Brooks of Anchorage surely cemented win, place and show for most unusual appearance.

Novakovich's debut a hard act to follow

Runners' times best in 25 years

Last year, the weather for Mount Marathon proved blistering. This year, the runners' times did the sizzling.

Top finishers in each division

Mount Marathon Web site

Trond Flagstad's legs felt fresh, practically springy, even as he powered up a mountain that averages a thigh-thumping 38-degree incline and occasionally reaches a pulverizing pitch of 60 degrees.

Given her earnest training, sharp fitness and encyclopedic knowledge of the 3,022-foot monument to pain that serves as the race course, Cedar Bourgeois had never needed to summon the force of her will to win Mount Marathon.

Alexander Babos closed his junior career on Mount Marathon in style Sunday morning, and record-busting Allie Ostrander again showed she could be dominating for years.

Racers take trail to triumph on Mount Marathon today

2010 MOUNT MARATHON

Seward’s Cedar Bourgeois today chases her seventh consecutive Mount Marathon title, which would leave her just one shy of matching Nina Kemppel’s race-record run of eight straight victories in Seward from 1996 to 2003.

Dehydration felled two of Mount Marathon's best

2010 MOUNT MARATHON

Among the legion of fans lined along Jefferson Street in Seward to watch the men's Mount Marathon race last Fourth of July, Holly Brooks of Anchorage surely cemented win, place and show for most unusual appearance.

Novakovich's debut a hard act to follow

2010 MOUNT MARATHON

Novakovich's debut a hard act to follow

Will the real Matt Novakovich please stand up?

Dow still thrilled by last year's dazzling Mount Marathon debut

2010 MOUNT MARATHON

Rachel Dow, who does not possess the elite running or nordic skiing background of many Mount Marathon stalwarts, bagged fifth place in her race debut last year. And in Seward, her success was celebrated.

Tale of Robinson's 12-peak feat in Chugach Mountains

2010 MOUNT MARATHON

Tale of Robinson's 12-peak feat in Chugach Mountains

Just after May 27 bled into May 28 this year, with just a couple hours left in Harlow Robinson's epic adventure and the mountain runner stationed atop Temptation Peak, his exhaustion momentarily gave way to awe.

Age hasn't caught up to Brown and Griffith

2010 MOUNT MARATHON

Ellyn Brown and Barney Griffith of Anchorage last year once again proved age isn't an impediment to fitness or toughness -- each finished sixth in Mount Marathon.

Changes will help more enter Mount Marathon race

The running joke for years has been that the only thing more difficult than running the annual Mount Marathon for the first time is actually gaining a spot in the limited-entry race up and down the 3,022-foot beast in Seward.

Apply now for Mount Marathon races

Applications are now being accepted for the 85th Annual Mount Marathon Race, set for July 4 in Seward, according to the Seward Chamber of Commerce.

MOUNT MARATHON

When perennial contender Eric Strabel crossed the finish line Monday to win his first Mount Marathon title in 12 attempts, he let loose the scream of a madman.

Ostrander 3-peats in junior girls race; boys winner fastest in years

Looking gritty in pink, Kikkan Randall and Holly Brooks staged one of the most stirring duels in Mount Marathon history Monday, running neck-and-neck almost the entire way in the 84th edition of Alaska's most famous footrace.

Ostrander 3-peats in junior girls race; boys winner fastest in years

Ostrander 3-peats in junior girls race; boys winner fastest in years

MOUNT MARATHON

Based on what Soldotna's Allie Ostrander has done in her last four Mount Marathons, it's scary to think what she might do in her three remaining years in the junior division.

MOUNT MARATHON

The over-the-hill gang did a pretty nice job on the mountain Monday. The men who won the three oldest age-group titles etched their names into the Mount Marathon record book, in one way or another.

Men, women, boys and girls top finishers

Ostrander, Knotek claim junior Mount Marathon victories

Anchorage runner Eric Strabel, 29, won the men's Mount Marathon race today with a time of 44 minutes and 40 seconds. This is Strabel's 12th Mount Marathon attempt. He previously finished second four times. Kikkan Randall won the women's race.

Cedar OK with walking away while still on Mount Marathon top

Ostrander, Knotek claim junior Mount Marathon victories

Allie Ostrander of Soldotna crushed her own record today in the girls junior Mount Marathon. Miles Knotek of Moose Pass, meantime, ran what is believed to be the second-fastest overall time in the junior race history.

Cedar OK with walking away while still on Mount Marathon top

Joy Eastman, mother of eight, including four boys who all ran Mount Marathon as kids, will make her Mount Marathon debut today at age 66. While others will honor Independence Day by waving American flags and wearing various combinations of red, white and blue, Eastman will honor her son by running the race he once ran.

Cedar OK with walking away while still on Mount Marathon top

The 350 women racing Mount Marathon today will experience something new to almost all of them. They will pass seven-time and reigning champion Cedar Bourgeois on their way up the 3,022-foot mountain in Seward.

37 years later, Spencer still king of Mount Marathon

Top contenders, statistics about the trail, the best places to watch.

After a trip to Seward late last week to check out conditions on Mount Marathon -- the famous peak that is the Mount Olympus of Alaska, the place where our toughest and studliest athletes achieve almost godlike status -- race legend Bill Spencer pronounced the mountain fit for Monday's 84th edition of the race.

Pease's Mount Marathon record for women among Alaska elite

Pease's Mount Marathon record for women among Alaska elite

Record books aren't carved in stone, it just seems that way when it comes to Alaska's most storied mountain race.

Man hurt in fall hoisted by helicopter from Mount Marathon

All time fastest times

A 20-year-old Seward man who suffered spinal injuries in a fall while hiking Mount Marathon was rescued by helicopter Wednesday night, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Trond Flagstad's legs felt fresh, practically springy, even as he powered up a mountain that averages a thigh-thumping 38-degree incline and occasionally reaches a pulverizing pitch of 60 degrees.

Alexander Babos closed his junior career on Mount Marathon in style Sunday morning, and record-busting Allie Ostrander again showed she could be dominating for years.

Given her earnest training, sharp fitness and encyclopedic knowledge of the 3,022-foot monument to pain that serves as the race course, Cedar Bourgeois had never needed to summon the force of her will to win Mount Marathon.

Racers take trail to triumph on Mount Marathon today

2010 MOUNT MARATHON

Seward’s Cedar Bourgeois today chases her seventh consecutive Mount Marathon title, which would leave her just one shy of matching Nina Kemppel’s race-record run of eight straight victories in Seward from 1996 to 2003.