Mat Peak Challenge sees record participation

LAZY MOUNTAIN — No time records were broken in the 27th Matanuska Peak Challenge Saturday morning, but the one for number of entrants was.

With 83 participants, this year’s 14-mile race drew the largest crowd seen since its inception in 1989, said race director and founder Braun Kopsack. Among those participants were Anchorage winners Matias Saari, who held the record in 2012 at 3 hours, 3 minutes, 8 seconds, and Najeeby Quinn, a seasoned mountain runner and newcomer to the race.

Saari did not surpass the current men’s record, owned by Eric Strabel at 2:55:48, but did achieve a personal record of 3:02:13 Saturday.

“It was hot, but manageable,” he said, of the race. “There was a lot of spectators with water, that really helped. But it would’ve been nice if it was 15 degrees cooler, too.”

High temperatures don’t necessarily affect Saari’s ability to place well, however.

“I run well in heat, so, I’m like, you know, bring it on. My time will be slower, but, whatever,” he said. “You risk a lot when you run for time and not for place.”

So though he didn’t break 3 hours, he was satisfied with the win.

“I could’ve tried like I’m going for 3 and just had a wild and reckless descent, but then you catch a toe, and fall, and cramp, and then you’re a mess, and the next thing you know you’re walking and people are going by you,” Saari said.

Playing it safe this year turned out to be a good strategy for keeping a tough competition at bay, but nothing was certain when he reached the top of Mat Peak.

“I got to the top first and there were five guys within a couple of minutes (of me),” Saari said.

Colony High School graduate and 2014 Crow Pass Crossing champion Allan Spangler, as well as Palmer’s Ben Marvin, in particular, were giving Saari a run for his money at that point.

“I was flying, it was great today,” Spangler said.

After his sub-3-hour, second-place finish in this year’s Cross Pass race just last week, Spangler said he was looking for a finish time around 3 hours and 20 minutes for Mat Peak. Instead, he finished second in 3:09:09.

“I was just climbing like crazy, I just wasn’t hurting at all.”

Marvin, on the other hand, was hurting.

“I got an anatomy lesson on the way down — I strained every muscle in my legs,” he said, after crossing the finish line in the Lazy Mountain parking lot. “That was ug-ly.”

Although Marvin did not clock his fastest time or claim his highest finish in the race this year, a third-place at 3:12:56 in the heat, against top-notch competitors, doesn’t sound too bad. Marvin said he was happy to hear that the field is growing.

“That’s awesome,” he said, of the 27-person jump in number of entries since last year. “Mountain racing is just getting more popular.”

Quinn, though not new to mountain racing (she placed fourth in this year’s Mount Marathon race), said she was pleased with her decision to join the growing Valley race.

“This was fun, I wanna definitely really race it sometime,” she said.

Although Quinn only put out about an 80-percent effort, she said — chatting with a few spectators and stopping occasionally to dump rocks out of her shoes and pick blueberries — the race was a good “tune-up” and gear test for her 25-kilometer mountain race in Montana this September.

“I didn’t wanna come here and get all hurt, I got Lost Lake (Run) in a couple weeks so this was just kinda for the September race, just to kinda to feel something a little longer,” she said.

But as second-place finisher Brianna Sullivan, of Girdwood, came running up behind her in the parking lot to the finish, Quinn wasn’t about to relinquish the 2015 title.

“I didn’t wanna lose,” she said.

Sullivan, like Quinn, said her mind was a little more on having fun and a little less on racing than usual. She was second to record-holder Christy Marvin last year, and with a less competitive atmosphere this year, she even forgot to look at her watch until the end of the race.

“Najeeby and I hiked Lazy together, and she just took off after that, and I was like,

I’m just gonna have fun and not get injured,” Sullivan said. “And that’s the best part about finishing a race is finishing strong and then having the next week all to yourself (for) recovery.”

And one of the best parts about the Mat Peak Challenge, she said, is that it can be whatever the individual wants it to be.

“One thing I love about it is, you just come the morning of. You don’t have to commit, you can go on vacation, you can go on a trip and come back and go, ‘hey, I can make it’ or ‘no, I can’t,” Sullivan said.

Quinn and Sullivan finished the race in 3:58:03 and 3:58:07.

Matanuska Peak Challenge is an Alaska Mountain Runners Grand Prix race. To see current Grand Prix race series standings, or results for other AMR races, visit alaskamountainrunners.org.

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

Results

Matanuska Peak Challenge

Aug. 1, 2015

Men

1. Matias Saari, 3:02:13; 2. Allan Spangler, 3:09:09; 3. Ben Marvin, 3:12:56; 4. Chad Trammell, 3:15:36; 5. Adam Jensen, 3:25:07; 6. John Collins, 3:27:47; 7. Mike Monterusso, 3:28:39; 8. Andrew Stavich, 3:35:44; 9. Abe Meyerhofer, 3:39:09; 10. Cory Grumelot, 3:42:58; 11. Miles Knotek, 3:43:41; 12. Karl Romig, 3:46:19; 13. Lance Kopsack, 3:56:18; 14. Christopher Kirk, 3:57:04; 15. Jeff Covaway, 3:58:19; 16. Justin Libby, 4:06:33; 17. Ben Ward, 4:06:33; 18. Luke Rosier, 4:09:37; 19. John Nayler, 4:10:37; 20. Gavin Block, 4:11:09; 21. Conor Deal, 4:11:46; 22. Keegan Crow, 4:16:45; 23. Kristan Pettyjohn, 4:18:17; 24. Schyler Knopp, 4:21:42; 25. Sean Ulman, 4:23:39; 26. Alexander Hone, 4:24:17; 27. Dan Virgin, 4:24:43; 28. Bodhi Gross, 4:28:12; 29. Mark Brady, 4:29:22; 30. Michael Connelly, 4:30:36; 31. Mike DiFlilppo, 4:31:06; 32. Scott Gage, 4:32:30; 33. Ali Papllon, 4:35:38; 34. Dorian Gross, 4:42:58; 35. Derek Nottingham, 4:44:12; 36. Joe Hunter, 4:46:34; 37. Steven Gilles, 4:47:44; 38. Nathan Kasukonis, 4:52:40; 39. Pete Lafrance, 4:55:37; 40. Michael Westbrook, 5:00:03; 41. Marty Lindeke, 5:00:09; 42. Shawn Hull, 5:10:38; 43. Roman Gross, 5:14:56; 44. Jeremy Himshaw, 5:25:43; 45. Jose Gross, 5:26:34; 46. Todd Henry, 5:30:33; 47. David Reth, 5:37:00; 48. John Clark, 5:39:45; 49. James Mitchell, 5:40:15; 50. James Murray, 5:58:34; 51. Wayland Potter, 6:24:59; 52. Lance Arnold, 6:28:02; 53. Greg Aktiken, 6:52:07; 54. Dane Crowley, 6:59:07; 55. Cory Jones , 7:22:53; 56. Steven Sedortle, 7:24:46; 57. Ed Lasselle, 7:24:46; 58. Tony Covarrubias, 7:25:59; 59. Evan Steinhauser, 7:29:07; 60. Braun Kopsack (sweep), 7:43:16.

Women

1. Najeeby Quinn, 3:58:03; 2. Briana Sullivan, 3:58:07; 3. Wendy Sailors, 4:13:01; 4. Shawn McTaggart, 4:22:24; 5. Gyӧngyvér Schilling, 4:36:54; 6. Annie Connelly, 4:40:17; 7. Kim Riggs, 4:52:27; 8. Leah Legate, 4:52:56; 9. Meghan O’Dooley, 4:57:44; 10. Clare Cook, 5:06:18; 11. Jain Baldivia, 5:09:58; 12. Caitlin Marine, 5:10:26; 13. Andrea Fountain, 5:24:13; 14. Mandy Thompson, 5:36:52; 15. Kate Arnold, 5:56:59; 16. Anna Henry, 6:04:35; 17. Linda Rao, 6:22:54; 18. Carri Joves, 6:29:26l; 19. Julie Estey, 6:37:59; 20. Becky Maxwell, 7:43:16; 21. Kari Sharp, 8:12:17.