Little Su 50K winner prepares for new mountain race

LAZY MOUNTAIN — Some people may think Lazy Mountain gets enough traffic between Mat Peak Challenge competitors and runners training for other mountain races throughout the year. But organizers of the first “Crazy Lazy” run say their race provides a unique opportunity.

“It’s gonna be an exciting race,” said runner and race contact Dane Crowley. “Winter running is a lot different than summer running.”

The Crazy Lazy runs a 7-mile loop, with 3,000 feet of vertical elevation gain and loss, beginning and ending at the Lazy Mountain Trailhead. The event begins at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 14. Registration is race-day only.

Winter traction devices are highly recommended, as the trail will be snowy and racers may encounter ice, though the mountain is less slick than usual, Crowley said.

“This is the best-case scenario given the season we’ve had,” he said.

Crowley is joined by Palmer runners John Clark and Ben Marvin as the founders of the race, though Marvin said the logistics are best left to Clark and Crowley.

“(My wife) Christy and I thought about it for years, and this year we ran (the course) and said ‘let’s let these guys just do it,’” Marvin said.

Marvin also spearheaded the new Pioneer Ridge Climb last year with fellow distance runner Matias Saari, of Anchorage. But both are more interested in competing than hosting — perhaps with good reason.

Last month, Marvin won the Little Su 50k by about 50 minutes, as he did last year. His finish time was about an hour slower this year, but so was everyone else’s.

This year’s course was about 5 miles longer than last year’s — 31.8 miles, according to Marvin’s GPS, compared to 26.5 miles in 2014 — and the trail a lot “spongier,” he said.

“There was not a lot of snow, but just enough – about 4 or 5 inches of the wrong consistency snow – to really slow you down,” Marvin said.

He said the first few miles had some “pretty nice” hard-packed snow. But some snowmachines had traveled up one section of the trail and turned the snow into a soft, squishy mess resembling “mashed potatoes,” he said.

“Some fatbikers were falling down because they couldn’t get enough grip on the trail,” Marvin said.

Willow runner David Johnston, who won the Susitna 100 on foot for the second year in a row — the 2013 race was cancelled, but he also won the 2012 race — also noted the new, soft snow as a game changer.

“I certainly thought it was gonna be easier than it was,” Johnston said of the race. “The deep snow just made me push the whole way.”

Back in the 50k, Marvin’s main competition disappeared about 70 percent of the way into the race, where Colony High School graduate Allan Spangler pulled ahead.

“We ran together for about 22 miles, and I think, to be perfectly honest, I kinda hit the wall a little bit,” Marvin said. “He kinda just wore me down.”

At mile 26, Marvin stopped to walk for a few minutes because he was shaking, cold and sweating. He had been feverish the week leading up to the race, but had thought he was over it.

“I still don’t know if it was low blood sugar or a fever or what,” he said.

But soon he decided to “stop feeling sorry for myself,” he said, and “got to feeling better” in the last 3 to 5 miles of the race.

When he arrived at the finish in “a solid second place,” he was ready to congratulate Spangler on his win, only to find his main competitor had been disqualified.

“He just wasn’t paying attention,” Marvin said.

Spangler came in 18 minutes ahead of Marvin, but from the wrong direction. The trail was clearly marked with wooden lathes, one for the correct trail and two in the shape of an ‘x’ marking the wrong trail, Marvin said. But Spangler was apparently focused on the wrong thing.

“I was following closely behind a biker who unfortunately rode by the ‘X’ marking that as the wrong route. Staring at their back tire I didn’t notice the ‘X’ either,” Spangler wrote in a blog post on his website.

Spangler also took an unintentional detour in a 55-kilometer race last year — that time making his run longer — and expressed some frustration about making the same mistake in the Little Su.

“Clearly this is a reoccurring problem unique to myself, and I need to work on fixing it,” he wrote. “I can train hard, get fit and run as fast I want. But it doesn’t matter how fast I am if I can’t follow a course.”

Marvin offered some consolation.

“In my book, he’s still the winner,” he said, of Spangler.

In any case, there’s little doubt that both are strong competitors to watch in the coming year.

After Crazy Lazy this weekend, Marvin’s next race will likely be the Turnagain Arm Trail Run May 12.

Spangler, Saari, Clark and the Marvin couple will next race together in the 2015 Mount Marathon race July 4.

Johnston leads Susitna 100

David Johnston won the race on foot for the second year in a row, finishing in 21 hours, 19 minutes and 28 seconds. He also won in 2012 with a time of 24 hours, 11 minutes.

Rachael Gano took the women’s title in the foot race this year with a time of 29 hours, 34 minutes, 34 seconds.

In the skiing division, Jan Tomsen beat out three female competitors — two of whom did not finish — for the win this year. She finished in 23 hours, 26 minutes and 59 seconds.

Samuel Chamberlain took the men’s skiing title in 37 hours, 32 minutes and 6 seconds, a great improvement after last year’s scratch. He finished about eight hours ahead of the only other male skier finisher this year, Asher Harley.

Tim Berntson, who took second in the Iditarod Trail Invitational fat-tire bike race last year, won the Sustina 100 by bike this year in 10 hours, 40 minutes and 26 seconds.

Laura Fox won the women’s bike race in 13 hours, 45 minutes and six seconds.

Little Su 50k highlights

Palmer’s Ben Marvin won the foot race for the second year in a row with a time of 4:12:11. Last year’s time was much faster — 3:11:27 — mostly because of trail conditions.

Katie Oviatt, of Anchorage, took the women’s title in 4:55:07.

Matias Saari, of Fairbanks, won the 50-kilometer ski race this year in 4:29:04, after winning the longer Susitna 100 last year.

Jennifer Barnard came in first for women on skis in 4 hours, 40 minutes and 4 seconds.

On fat-tire bikes, Megan Chelf and James Stull came in first for the women’s and men’s divisions, respectively. Stull finished at 2:33:35, followed by Chelf about 15 minutes later. This was Stull’s second win in the bike division of the Little Su 50 — last year he finished in 1:50:57.

For complete results, visit susitna100.com.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.