Locals battle mountain

SEWARD — Ninety Valley racers registered for the state's most challenging running course this year. Of those, about a dozen finished in the top 20.

Eric Strabel and Darin Markwardt, former runners at Colony High School, hiked, clawed and slid their way to second and third place in the 86th running of Mount Marathon. Strabel's time of 46 minutes, 52 seconds, was just two seconds faster than Markwardt's.

Strabel was a full one minute and 45 seconds behind the winner, Brad Precosky of Anchorage. Last year, Strabel placed sixth. Markwardt, 11th.

Other top Valley men were Ryan Quinn, in fifth place with 47.58; Lance Kopsack in 12th (51.56); Pat Egelus, 15th (52.44); and John Heimerl, 17th (53.05).

Several area juniors rounded out the top 20, including Rory Egelus, Mike Rubeo, Blake Huppert, John Hundley, and brothers Drew and Aaron Dickson.

But the surprise was the girls' junior winner, Dominique Colberg, who had entered Mount Marathon for the first time. She ran the course in 35 minutes.

Juniors do not run the complete 3.1-mile course over the mountain. They go about three quarters of the way up — to just above tree line — then back down. They miss the scree and what's called the snow chute.

They still have to claw their way up and maneuver their way down the rock cliff near the mountain's base, as well as battle the 40-or-so-degree average angle of the slope.

Sixteen-year-old Colberg said she decided to enter the race this year after talking to classmates and track coaches at school. She'll be a junior at Colony next year.

"People at track and field told me it would be fun," she said.

It had poured most of the night before the race, but stopped in the morning. Colberg said the junior course was in good condition, despite the downpour.

"It was perfect," she said. "It wasn't dusty at all. I ran it a couple of times for practice and it was so dusty."

To some Valley runners, Colberg's winning first attempt at the mountain may have come as no surprise. Her name has consistently appeared at the top of summer running events.

She came in first overall for the women in the Bill Mitchell 5k, crossing the finish line in 19:40. She also won her age group in the AT&T Race for Technology 5K. Her time was 20 minutes.

She could have won the Alaska Sea Life Center Wildlife Rescue run in Seward too, if she hadn't veered from the course.

"I was running with the top group of guys and we were following a person on a bike," she said.

When the person on the bike took a wrong turn, Colberg and the group she was with followed. She ended up doing 19:25 for something like 4.57K.

She said she hasn't been training much this summer, except running about 30 minutes a day with her dog, who doesn't appreciate her dragging him along.

"He's lazy," she said.

Colberg plays basketball for her school in the winter and runs track in the summer — mainly the 800-meter and the 3,200.

This year she won the 800 at both the boroughs and regional meets, and she came in second at state. In the3,200, she was first at boroughs, second at regions and fourth at state.

"I like the two-mile," she said, "because you get to take your time. I like the 800 because I'm good at it."

She hopes her running will get her some future college funding.

As for Mount Marathon, she'll most likely be back on the mountain next year. The previous year's participants are always the first to be invited back.

"It was a lot of fun. A whole lot of people are cheering for you," she said. "I thought I'd do pretty well, but I didn't think I'd win."

Next year the process for doling out slots in Mount Marathon will change. This year's participants will still get the usual priority registration next year.

But the slots left after that (excluding 10 in each category held out for the annual bidding fund raiser) will be passed out lottery style.

It once was a walk-in registration process, but that became a mess when dozens of hopeful racers started camping out on the steps of Seward's Chamber of Commerce building each year to be first in line.

With the new lottery-style process, racers will submit applications that would be drawn next March. It should make it easier for new racers, especially those who live far away, to obtain a slot.