Post-race conversations probably wouldn't have led anyone to figure out race rookie Toby Schwoerer not only won the 20th Crow Pass Crossing but popped the third-fastest time in the history of the wicked backcountry marathon.
Schwoerer crossed the finish line behind the Eagle River Nature Center at midmorning Saturday, immediately dropped to his knees and sucked air for perhaps a minute. When he arose, he walked to a nearby deck railing and leaned against it, still gathering himself.
"How'd it go?'' asked race director Michael Friess.
"Horrible,'' Schwoerer said. "I had heavy legs from the beginning. I didn't feel good the whole way.''
Schwoerer, fatigued not just from the race but also from a heavy dose of off-season, cross-country ski training last week, found a chair to sit in and sipped a small cup of water. Friess, who coached Schwoerer as a cross-country runner at UAA, approached him again, this time while pointing a video camera.
"Toby, how you doing?'' Friess asked.
"Well, I'm seeing stars,'' Schwoerer said.
Second-place finisher Harlow Robinson, who won the race the previous two years, arrived. Robinson and Schwoerer hugged.
"Good job, man,'' Robinson said.
"I'm glad I'm here,'' Schwoerer said with a weary smile.
Schwoerer, a native of Germany and a former NCAA All-American cross-country skier and runner at UAA, said the journey from the Cross Pass trailhead near Girdwood to the Nature Center sapped him silly.
"Especially the last hill was horrible suffering,'' he said.
Schwoerer, 28, was hurting, but he was happy. His time of 3 hours, 8 minutes, 27 seconds, has only been bested by Bill Spencer's 1989 course record (3:05:25) and Vernon Campbell's 1985 winning time (3:08:21).
Robinson's 2002 winning time of 3:08:38 stood as the third-fastest time until Schwoerer's blistering run. Robinson, 36, who was clocked in 3:12:57 Saturday, said Schwoerer's time was sensational given the high grass that shrouded the trail and made the course slower than last year.
"I'm thrilled with my time,'' Robinson said, "and I'm very impressed with Toby's time. The fact that he ran a 3:08 is fantastic.''
It was Robinson who encouraged Schwoerer to make his debut in a race that covers somewhere between 24 and 28 miles -- accurate measurement is nearly impossible -- and savages runners. The race begins with a climb up Crow Pass that covers more than three miles and includes about 2,500 feet of elevation gain. After that comes a rocky downhill and then miles and miles of dirt trail featuring raised rocks and tree roots that frequently send runners tripping and tumbling. And halfway through the race, runners must cross the stinging, rushing cold waters of Eagle River.
Schwoerer's credentials are impressive. Besides being a four-time All-American skier and one-time All-American runner, and owning the course record on the uphill-only Bob Spurr Memorial Hill Climb, he is UAA's only two-time Athlete of the Year. But when he competed at UAA, he eschewed Crow Pass for fear of injury. With his collegiate career complete -- he graduated with a 3.9 grade-point-average in economics in May -- Schwoerer finally relented and entered.
"I pestered Toby to run this race all winter,'' Robinson said. "I called him the day before the (entry) deadline. I showed him the trail.
"There's no shame in losing to Toby. He's an animal. I set myself up, but it's good for the race to have Toby in it.''
After 39 runners in the race with a limited field of 135 were disqualified last year for failing to carry all of the eight mandatory items, officials administered gear checks at the start and finish. No one was disqualified.
Francis Cosgrave, the Irishman who won the race in 1997 and claimed third place Saturday, led the runners over the pass, with Schwoerer close behind. Schwoerer passed Cosgrave on the downhill and never relinquished the lead. The downhill is where Robinson usually whips into the lead, but not Saturday.
"Toby took off, and I realized I was in for a race at that point because that's usually where I'm pulling away from everyone,'' Robinson said.
Other than chasing a black bear off the trail in the early going, the only potentially serious problem Schwoerer encountered came at the river crossing, where the depth of the water depends on the route taken but usually comes up to mid- to high-thigh level on most men. It came up a little higher on Schwoerer.
"All of a sudden, I couldn't feel the ground, and I was swimming,'' Schwoerer said. "My head was almost under and then I felt ground. After that, I felt pretty refreshed. I thought, "Wow, maybe that's a good thing.' ''
Schwoerer banged his head into a tree along the way and, like most runners, he suffered his share of stumbles and tumbles.
"Many falls -- uncountable,'' he said. "I told myself, 'You have to keep going, you have to keep going.' ''
Robinson, meanwhile, tried to focus on his race while also thinking of Daniel Bigley, his co-worker at Alaska Children's Services. Bigley, 25, was mauled by a brown bear near the Russian River on Tuesday morning and has been hospitalized in critical condition since.
"It was weighing on me heavily, but I tried to use it,'' Robinson said. "One thing about Dan is he's a tremendously positive individual.
"In my experience, everything he touches he leaves a little better, so I tried to think about that and be positive about it, and think optimistically about Dan's future.''
Cosgrave, 40, who only Thursday decided to hop on a plane from London and fly here to run the race and visit relatives, endured a perilous journey. First, he became lost near Thunder Gorge, about midway through the race, until Robinson yelled to him and beckoned him back to the trail.
"I certainly don't remember the trail very well, period,'' Cosgrave said. "If it wasn't for (Robinson), there's no telling where I'd be. Probably still out there.''
Then, Cosgrave fell and hit his head against a rock near Icicle Creek, about five or six miles from the finish. The blow opened a two- to three-inch cut on his forehead. By the time Cosgrave finished in a 40-49 age-group record of 3:24:41, his face was a mask of blood and his green-and-white singlet, which read "Ireland'' on the front, was smudged with crimson stains.
"I thought to myself, "Well, I better get home, I've got a beautiful wife (Nida) and daughter (Norlisa).' ''
Even after all those adventures, though, Cosgrave beamed. He doesn't do the volume of training he once did and he had only slept about four hours in the two previous nights because of jet lag, so he considered third place plenty pleasing.
"I'm delighted with the result,'' he said, his face covered in dry blood.
Daily News assistant sports editor Doyle Woody can be reached at dwoody@adn.com.
