Mount Marathon champ the king of Government Peak

June 3, 2007

By MATT TUNSETH/ Frontiersman

WASILLA - While Brad Precosky is still king of the mountain, there could be a new queen of Alaska mountain running.

Precosky, the reigning Mount Marathon champ, outlasted Trond Flagstad and Brent Knight to win the inaugural Government Peak Challenge Saturday.

But the big surprise was in the women's race, where Talkeetna's Tazlina Mannix bested Najeeby Quinn and Cedar Bourgeois. It was the first loss in an Alaska mountain race for Bourgeois

in 13 tries.

Following the race, Mannix said the steep slope of the 4,781-foot Government Peak may have given her an advantage.

&#8220I think this suits me well,” Mannix, a member of the U.S. Cross-Country Ski Team said shortly after reaching the summit. &#8220It's good for skiers.”

Located on the south slope of the mountain, Saturday's race trail began with a long, gently-sloping run from the starting line through forest and meadow to the base of the mountain. From there, however, the rough trail headed straight up, turning the mountain run into a climb for the final 2,000 feet of elevation gain.

&#8220I prefer to hike rather than run,” Mannix said.

Overall, the trail covered approximately 2.5 miles and climbed more than 3,000 feet from the starting line to the summit.

Mannix trailed both Seward's Bourgeois and second-place finisher Najeeby Quinn of Anchorage at that point, but slowly reeled both in to finish with a sizable lead by the end of the uphill-only race. She finished in 55 minutes, 3.2 seconds, 23 seconds ahead of Quinn and 3 minutes, 7 seconds better than Bourgeois.

Though she's a Mat-Su native, Mannix said she was unfamiliar with Government Peak, which is located outside Palmer at the entrance to Hatcher Pass.

Not only had she never hiked the mountain, Mannix said she wasn't even sure which mountain she was supposed to climb.

Though more familiar with the trail, Precosky said he followed a similar pattern as Mannix to earn his first win of the season. He said Flagstad, the University of Alaska Anchorage ski coach, and Knight, a former UAA skier, got out to a big lead during the flat portion of the race, with Knight leading the way through flats and over the first half of the mountain climb.\

&#8220He led all the way,” Precosky said.

About 30 minutes in, however, the 40-year-old Precosky managed to reel in Knight, a 2006 UAA graduate from Soldotna.

The first three men's finishers crossed the finish line within 43.2 seconds, with Precosky finishing in 49:34.8, Flagstad in 49:53.0 and Knight in 50:18.0.

Knight said that as he neared the summit, he reached his maximum heart rate and just couldn't push himself enough to hold off Precosky.

&#8220I was like, ‘I know he's going to catch me',” Knight said.

Precosky said it was part of his strategy to lay back and wait for the more difficult portion of the race.

&#8220I knew the race wasn't going to be won in the first 15 minutes,” he said.

The race served as the first Alaska Mountain Running Grand Prix race of the season. Other races include Bird Ridge, Mount Marathon, Crow Pass Crossing, Matanuska Peak and the Alyeska Classic. Precosky is a five-time winner of the Grand Prix, while Bourgeois has won the series each of the past four years.

Eleven-year-old Lyon Kopsack of Palmer won the junior race, which traversed only the lower section of the trail, including one steep climb at the finish. Following his win, Kopsack said he was a little surprised to come out on top of the 14-entrant field.

&#8220I had no idea I was going to win,” he said.

Kopsack is a veteran of other junior mountain races, and said he had no trouble with Government Peak - until the final couple hundred yards.

&#8220Those last hills were killers,” Kopsack said.

Following the race, participants gave the first-year climb high marks both for difficulty as well as the dramatic scenery of the Mat-Su Valley and Cook Inlet afforded along the way.

&#8220After racing it one time I think this is my favorite,” Flagstad said.

All three top finishers appeared spent as they crossed the finish line. But mountain runners are known as a different breed, and Knight said the difficulty of the trail up the mountain is what gives the race its allure.

&#8220I would easily say this is one of the hardest mountain races,” he said. &#8220I love it.”

The race began at Mountain Streams Bed and Breakfast, which is owned by former Colony High ski coach Ed Strabel and his wife, Glynn. The Strabels' son, Mark, is the current Colony ski coach and served as race organizer for the event, which doubled as a fund raiser for the school's skiing and running teams.

The race was staffed by the Strabels as well as volunteers made up mainly of members of the Colony skiing and cross country running teams. While it was only planned as a one-time event, the elder Strabel said he believes the race could become an annual race.

&#8220I was led to believe this was a one-shot deal, but people seem to like it so much we might have to make it an annual thing,” Strabel said while handing out lemonade and water to racers along the trail.

More than 100 men and women, along with 14 children, signed up to take part in the race.

Mark Strabel said he believes it may be possible to turn the race into a yearly tradition, though he noted that the timing may have to be tweaked because of conflicts with other races during the first weekend of June.

&#8220I think we're going to try to move it to Memorial Day weekend,” he said.

While he didn't make it up on the mountain this year, Strabel said he watched the race through a telescope at the bottom of the mountain. From what he could see, it appeared as if the first-ever race was a hit.

&#8220I could see people were having a good time up there,” he said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@

frontiersman.com