ULTIMATE CHALLENGE

PALMER — Gail Taylor has been thinking about hanging up her running shoes. And if she does, the Wasilla woman and longtime competitive runner found a heck of a way to end her career.

Taylor broke through the trees at the Lazy Mountain Trailhead and hustled her way down the final stretch to post a record-breaking time of 3 hours and 36 minutes and win the women’s division of the Matanuska Peak Challenge mountain race, hosted at Lazy Mountain outside of Palmer on Saturday.

“I just wanted to finish,” the Matanuska Peak Challenge rookie said when asked about the record mere moments after dousing herself with water from a bottle while standing under the hot sun after the race. “I guess I sort of wanted to make it under four hours.”

Taylor easily eclipsed her four-hour goal, beating that mark by about 24 minutes. Her time was also well ahead of the 3:58:40 it took Rachel James to win the women’s division of the race last year.

“It’s an awesome race,” Taylor said. “I ran as hard as I could.”

Before Saturday, Taylor had not run in a competitive setting since participating in the Boston Marathon in April. At one point, she thought the 26-mile tour through the historic Northeastern city would be her last official race.

But Taylor loves the mountains, and had to give the rigorous race that covers 14 miles and 9,100 feet of vertical gain, a try.

“Everybody says this is the hardest race,” Taylor said. “I might quit running, and I wanted to do it before I quit.”

While a rookie finished first in the women’s division, a runner very familiar with the race was the overall winner.

Harlow Robinson used a time of 3:08:13 to score the victory and capture his sixth straight Matanuska Peak Challenge crown.

“Every one’s a little different, but I definitely feel like I’ve had to earn every one,” Robinson said. “They’re all unique. This one was pretty amazing, it threw a little bit of everything at us.”

Robinson, of Anchorage, said the 65 participants in the race had to work through everything from mud on the lower sections of the trail to fog and snow at higher elevations.

“It was a demanding course,” Robinson said.

Robinson said a key section of the race — which takes runners up Lazy Mountain and across to Matanuska Peak and back — was the piece of trail that connects Lazy Mountain and Matanuska Peak.

Robinson finished four minutes ahead of second -place Matias Saari, of Fairbanks, and said a significant portion of that difference was gained in that section.

“Matias and I were pushing each other really hard up Mat Peak, and I pulled away a little bit,” Robinson said. “It’s almost a 50-minute climb. If you can make a move on somebody it can be pretty discouraging. I think it was a key part. I was able to make a little gap and hold onto it for the rest of the race.”

While Robinson used that effort to claim yet another blue ribbon in the event, Saari had to settle for second once again.

“I’ve been second to him three years in a row,” Saari said. “I knew I couldn’t sit back. To beat Harlow you’ve got to run aggressively.”

Robinson admitted throughout all of his wins, he’s never led in the race when the top tier of runners reach the top of Lazy Mountain before making their way to Matanuska Peak. It was the same on Saturday as Saari held a slight advantage over his friend and rival.

“I really didn’t run really well down the hill through the tall grass and he caught me real low on the Mat Peak climb,” Saari said. “Then I just tried to sort of conserve energy and hope to make a push. And then he was actually more of the aggressor going up to Mat Peak.”

Saari, who won Mount Marathon in dramatic fashion on July 4, said he considers himself a good climber, but tackling Matanuska Peak is simply a daunting task.

“I like to think I’m a good climber, but I obviously don’t have the climbing I need for 9,000 feet,” Saari said. “I have it for about 5,000 feet. I was hoping I’d have sort of my top gear, my mount marathon gear. I was hoping I could maintain that longer, but it just didn’t happen.”

Saari said he trailed Robinson by about 2 1/2 minutes when he hit the half-way point and began to make his way back to that start at the Lazy Mountain Trailhead.

“He’s a good descender,” Saari said. “Harlow’s a tough guy to run down.”

While Saari wasn’t able to clear the hurdle that is Robinson, the 38-year-old has had quite the summer.

“After winning Mount Marathon it’s hard to be disappointed in second,” Saari said. “It’s a little frustrating to lose to Harlow three years in a row, but he was certainly the stronger guy and I have know qualms losing to a guy like Harlow.

Robinson said he was aiming for the overall record mark of 3:04:06 he set last year, but ended up falling about four minutes short.

“I was on pace. At the top of Mat Peak I had almost the identical split as last year,” Robinson said. “I think at some point I realized I just got to be conservative. Just finish strong and forget about the time.”

Robinson did finish strong to maintain the stranglehold he’s had on the annual race. He competes in Mount Marathon and the Matanuska Peak Challenge every year, and said his race has emerged as his favorite.

“I just love it. First and foremost it’s just an absolutely beautiful course. It was gorgeous out there today. I love the race, and in my mind its the most challenging race in Alaska,” Robinson said. “I kind of use Mount Marathon as a good foundation builder for this. I’m probably one of the few people that makes Mat Peak my focus race. Mount Marathon may be for painful in the short term, but sustaining a race pace for three hours with that kind of vertical gain [of the Matanuska Peak Challenge] is a whole other game.”

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Matanuska Peak Challenge

Saturday, Lazy Mountain

Final results — 1. Harlow Robinson 3 hours, 8 minutes, 13 seconds; 2. Matias Saari 3:12:33; 3. Hugh Green 3:13:35; 4. Trond Flogstad 3:14:39; 5. Barney Griffith 3:27:47; 6. Darren Mattingly 3:31:04; 7. Lance Kopsack 3:34:20; 8. Jonathon Kreiss-Tompkins 3:34:41; 9. Mark Brady 3:36:09; 10. Gail Taylor 3:36:44; 11. Braun Kopsack 3:39:26; 12. Jonathon Harvey 3:39:49; 13. Karl Romig 3:41:34; 14. Alex Alonso 3:52:54; 15. Gyongyver Schilling 3:56:40; 16. William Tarantino 4:00:39; 17. Jim Potts 4:04:45; 18. David Apperson 4:07:46; 19. Aubrey Smith 4:09:06; 20. Patrick Conway 4:13:23; 21. Mark Carr 4:17:02; 22. Kevin Vig 4:18:52; 23. Clarence Ess 4:24:00; 24. Jamie Brillhart 4:24:24; 25. Danielle Dalton 4:25:28; 26. Brad Precosky 4:25:30; 27. Shawn Hull 4:26:45; 28. Nathan Kasokonis 4:32:30; 29. Brad Benter 4:33:10; 30. Bill English 4:32:34; 31. Scott Brockett 4:35:27; 32. Jane Baldwin 4:36:38; 33. Lars Sparkland 4:36:00; 34. Brian Burnett 4:38:07; 35. Charlie Ess 4:41:07; 36. Kari Kogan 4:42:03; 37. Ellyn Brown 4:42:25; 38. Jim McDonough 4:44:25; 39. Ben Summit 4:45:31; 40. Jason Bozenik 4:45:33; 41. Shelly Schwenn 4:46:00; 42. Amber McDonough 4:54:21; 43. Alex Morris 4:56:45; 44. David Reische 4:58:56; 45. Cheryl Ess 5:07:31; 46. Curt Hollier 5:12:08; 47. Jarrett Finley 5:13:01; 48. Adam Jackson 5:15:47; 49. David Robinson 5:16:23; 50. Dan Virgin 5:18:59; 51. Matt Setian 5:21:29; 52. Patrick Mettenbrink 5:22:58; 53. Serena Wilcox 5:33:01; 54. Cloyd Crow 5:39:37; 55. Duke Ryzicka 5:50:14; 56. Stacy Johnson 5:50:14; 57. Stacy Ozturgut 5:51:0-2; 58. Dough Harvey 6:07:35; 59. Andy Schaffer 6:10:20; 60. Emily Grossman 6:17:05; 61. Norm Johnson 6:53:19; 62. Evan Steinhauser 7:19:09; 63. Ron Nicholls 7:34:50. Scratched: Caren Cioppa, Dave Dickson.