Scott Patterson couldn't break free of Erik Bjornsen as he ran and hiked his way up Government Peak on Saturday morning.
Then, with a yard or two left in the arduous mountain run at Hatcher Pass, Bjornsen inched into the lead and Patterson had a flashback.
He remembered how David Norris beat him by less than one second in last year's Bird Ridge Run, a similarly grueling uphill grind.
"I said to myself it wasn't happening again," Patterson said.
And with his final step, Patterson regained the lead and won the race in record time.
Patterson triumphed in 42 minutes, 4.9 seconds – three-tenths of a second ahead of Bjornsen. The pair of 25-year-olds shattered the previous record of 43:28 set by Jim Shine in 2015.
Marine Dusser – Bjornsen's fiancée and a former UAA skier – topped the women in 53:53.5. She finished 11th overall but was well off Christy Marvin's record pace of 50:36 a year ago.
Patterson and Bjornsen, world-class Nordic skiers who train together at the Alaska Pacific University ski center, stole the show with a duel that left everyone in their dust. Third-place Russ Johanson was more than six minutes back in 48:42.
"We pulled away from everyone else really early in the race," Patterson said by phone. "It was clear it was gonna be a two-man show.
"I led the whole thing till maybe a minute to go, then we duked it out as I tried to come up with a little bit of a sprint. With three feet to go, Erik would have won. Even with two feet to go. He seemed to stumble a little when it was down to one step and I got him."
[Turnagain Arm queen Quinn claims 8th win in record time]
The race is three miles long with 3,500 feet of elevation gain, and running is impossible in many places.
"It's steep enough that in some places you put your hands on the trail," Patterson said.
But with the finish line in sight, he summoned the energy to get past Bjornsen and add the Government Peak title to the victory he collected last month in the Turnagain Arm Trail Run.
"There isn't much quickness left after a climb like that," Patterson said. "The calves are tight, the quads are tight. It's tough to find that little extra gear."
Patterson's triumph came on the same day his sister, Caitlin Patterson, placed fourth at the U.S. Mountain Running Championships in New Hampshire.
The victory was the second of the mountain-running season for Dusser, 28. She won the short race at the recent Kal's Knoya Ridge Run.
Dusser, who is from France, finished more than two minutes ahead of 37-year-old Najeeby Quinn, the 2015 Government Peak winner.
Quinn finished in 56:22 to hold off two women racing in the 50-59 age group – 57-year-old Sheryl Loan (57:19) and 55-year-old Nancy Pease (59:10).
Government Peak Hill Climb
Men
1) PATTERSON, Scott 42:04.9; 2) BJORNSEN, Erik 42:05.2; 3) JOHANSON, Russ 48:42.0; .4) ROSS, Jerome 49:44.0; 5) MAMORL, Peter 50:24.5; 6) KOPSACK, Lyon 51:11.8; .7) KIRK, Christopher 51:47.8; 8) WOLFE, Hamish 52:03.3; 9) GRIFFITH, Barney 52:52.8; 10 ) DEKKER, Franklin 53:31.0; 11 ) GROSS, Bodhi 53:48.5; 12) PAPILLON, Ali 53:57.5;
13) CONNELLY, Michael 54:13.5; 14) TAYLOR, Josh 54:31.5; 15) MUNDAHL, Erik 54:38.8; 16) RITCHIE, Tom 54:57.3; 17) KIRCHNER, Brian 55:03.8; 18) MCAULIFFE, Lee 55:09.0; 19) MAHLEN, Forrest 55:27.8; 20) CROW, Keegan 55:33.3; 21) TAYLOR, Craig 55:44.5; 22) COLLINS, John 55:48.6; 23) FLOWERS, Chris 56:26.6; 24) MARCHANT, Chris 56:47.2; 25) CASON, Everett 56:49.6; 26) LEGATE, Kelemen 56:59.6; 27) WOLFE, Patrick 57:16.0; 28) BROKAW, Dan 57:35.3; 29) SLATONBARKER 58:14.6;30) LATIMER, Charles 58:33.3; 31) GROSS, Dorian 58:36.8; 32) CVANCARA, George 58:58.8; 33) NOTTINGHAM, 59:08.1; 34) RODOLFO GROSS, 59:12.3; 35) BEIERGROHSLEIN, 1:00:18.3; 36) HAVILAND, Brian 1:00:20.1; 37) PETRI, Dante 1:00:28.3; 38) VANDER LUGT, 1:00:29.3; 39) MCDONOUGH, Jim 1:00:35.1; 40) ROSIER, Luke 1:00:42.3; 41) WITMER, Frank 1:01:14.2; 42) MAVES, Aaron 1:01:40.1; 43) MCINTOSH, Dan 1:01:46.8; 44) MEREDITH, Scott 1:02:09.8; 45) WEDDLETON, John 1:02:21.8; 46) KOPSACK, Lance 1:03:04.5; 47) QUIMBY, Michael 1:03:49.6; 48) PINTNER, Bob 1:03:50.0;
49) VIRGIN, Dan 1:05:30.2; 50) STEINER, Ryker 1:05:30.8; 51) DAHLGREN, Westley 1:06:11.0; 52) COOLIDGE, Thomas 1:06:18.5; 53) HOUSER, Jerry 1:06:42.5; 54) BENKO, Barry 1:06:51.0; 55) CARR, Mark 1:07:19.2; 56) HOMESTEAD, Billy 1:07:21.6; 57) BETHARD, Bryce 1:07:43.8; 58) BETHARD, Brian 1:07:45.8; 59) HENRY, Todd 1:07:46.2; 60) M, James 1:07:56.0; 61) WALISZEK, Matt 1:08:23.7; 62) LAFRANCE, Peter 1:09:00.2; 63) KOLENDO, Marek 1:10:45.3; 64) BANDY, Ryan 1:11:08.3; 65 ) POSTHUMUS, Cole 1:11:11.0; 66) WAHLIG, Mike 1:11:12.3; 67) CLARK, John 1:11:19.8; 68) KETTERER, 1:14:22.5; 69) MAYER, Stephen 1:14:31.3; 70) LINDEKE, Marty 1:14:31.5; 71) CROSTA, 1:14:59.3; 72) GROSS, Jose 1:15:21.5; 73) KAY, Alec 1:15:29.0; 74) CHRISTIE, Aaron 1:16:29.8; 74) WALLING, Joseph 1:16:29.8;
76) SQUIRES, Mike 1:16:36.6;77) MCANALLY, Patrick 1:17:13.3; 78) SOULE, Matt 1:18:53.0; 79) BALLANTINE, Tab 1:19:57.5; 80) RUZICKA, Duke 1:20:10.1; 81) DEWALLE, Van 1:20:18.0; 82 ) KERN, Jared 1:20:21.4; 83) PAPROCKI, Ted 1:20:26.8; 84) TEATER, Nathan 1:20:27.6; 85 ) HANSEN, Mark 1:20:33.8; 86) COLLINS, Tom 1:20:52.9; 87) HECK, Kevin 1:21:30.4; 88 ) CVANCARA, Paul 1:21:48.3; 89) CVANCARA, Creed 1:24:56.5; 90) HSIEH, Abraham 1:25:21.4; 91) LEE, Jaxson 1:26:06.5; 92) BOETTCHER, Scott 1:26:08.4; 93) BERRIGAN, Keenan 1:27:42.0; 94) LEE, Ben 1:28:43.4; 95) PIERCE, Austin 1:30:37.0; 96) COOLEY, Adam 1:31:25.1; 97) CHAMPION, Robert 1:32:35.8; 98) CROWLEY, Dane 1:34:53.9; 99) DAOUST, Andy 1:36:14.7; 100) STEINHAUSER, 1:37:56.4; 101) CONLEY, James 1:42:39.9; 102) TAYLOR, Kneeland 1:44:59.2; 103) SURPRENANT, Tom 1:45:25.7; 104) DOYLE, Kevin 1:46:58.5; 105 ) KNIGHT, Marcus 2:08:33.3.
Women
1) DUSSER, Marine 53:53.5; 2) QUINN, Najeeby 56:22.5; 3) LOAN, Sheryl 57:19.6; .4) PEASE, Nancy 59:10.7; 5) GLASER, Sarah 59:33.5; 6) FOX, Laura 1:02:17.8; 7) MCANLY, April 1:03:16.1; 8 ) HOUSER, Katey 1:05:23.2; 9 ) ASCHOFF, Jennifer 1:06:00.2; 10) KOPSACK, Jocelyn 1:06:36.2; 11) WHITWORTH, Pilar 1:07:00.2; 12) HANESTAD, Annika 1:07:08.2; 13 ) SPINELLI, Lauren 1:07:26.8; 14) DICKERSON, 1:07:59.0; 15) CVANCARA, Ruth 1:08:27.1;16) VARYS, Leslie 1:08:40.6; 17) EVANS, Emily 1:08:48.8; 18) MCDONOUGH, 1:09:42.7; 19) COMER, Teresa 1:09:57.5; 20) BERRIGAN, Rya 1:10:08.1; 21) LEGATE, Leah 1:10:47.0; 22) MCTAGGART, Shawn 1:10:49.2; 23) SWANSON, 1:11:18.8; 24) LACROIX, Becca 1 :11:57.7; 25) NICHOLLS, Bronwen 1:12:05.7; 26) SIND, Katherine :12:11.2; 27) BRONGA, Jaime 1:12:57.8; 28) PALME, Lena 1:13:50.0; 29) KVERNPLASSEN, 1:14:26.9; 30) BALES, Caitlin 1:15:01.5; 31) FLYNN, Annika 1:15:18.5; 32) HALTNESS, Sarah 1:15:34.0; 33) HANSEN, Kara 1:15:36.5; 34) RICHARDS, 1:15:46.3; 35) JONES, Carri 1:16:13.8; 36) NOCAS, Cecelia 1:16:54.3; 37) CONNELLY, Annie 1:17:38.9; 38) MOON, Heather 1:18:37.3; 39) SPAIC, Sofija 1:18:56.3; 40) ULMAN, Sadie 1:21:13.9; 41) SEALE, Lesley 1:21:25.6; 42) BOARDMAN, Kelsey 1:22:09.4; 43) NAVIO, Nikki 1:22:21.0; 44) CVANCARA, Maria 1:23:50.3; 45) HARDY, Dyann 1:24:11.1; 46) BENKO, Tatyana 1:26:49.9; 47) HESSELBACH, Cara 1:28:25.4; 48) RAO, Linda 1:28:41.3; 49) HOOPER, Elizabeth 1:30:22.0; 50) KEMP, Megan 1:30:58.9; 51) OHLENDORF, 1:31:59.9; 52) ANDERSEN, 1:33:16.4; 53) BERRIGAN, Aila 1:34:45.0; 54) CVANCARA, Sophia 1:34:54.8; 55) MANS, Elizabeth 1:36:27.8; 56) STICKMAN, 1:36:37.1; 57) ANDERSON, 1:38:11.2; 58) WELCH, Chantel 1:41:06.5; 59 ) BATTAH, Carisa 1:48:09.2; 60) MCDUFFIE, Hannah 1:50:14.9; 61) WERNER, Brittyn 1:51:46.3; 62) ROSEN, Yereth 51:54:59.2.