Palmer woman runs to 3rd Hatcher Pass Marathon title

WILLOW — Thanks to the fifth annual Hatcher Pass Marathon on Saturday, many were able to cross mountain running off their list of things to do this holiday weekend.

And one Valley runner made her holiday weekend particularly memorable.

Shawn McTaggart of Palmer won the women’s division of the Hatcher Pass Marathon for the third time Saturday. McTaggart finished the grueling 26.2-mile course featuring scenic views of Hatcher Pass in 3 hours and 54 minutes to win her class, and finish second overall. Only Anchorage’s Laron Thomas posted a faster time in the race that starts at the bridge on Shirleytown Road, off Willow Fishhook Road.

Thomas clocked a time of 3:28:35. Martin Schuster was third overall at 3:58:02, and Egan Comachione of Georgetown, Texas, finished fourth with a mark of 4:03:56. Anchorage’s Teri Buck finished at 4:04:40 to finish second in the women’s class and fifth overall on a route that snakes up the sinuous road through the pass before ending just below Independence Mine and the Hatcher Pass parking lot.

Along the course there are aid stations that offer water, Gatorade, food and anything else the runners may need. Around 15 volunteers helped with the race this year, which included manning the stations, spaced approximately four to five miles apart. The long distances between the water stands meant that racers had to come prepared for the Hatcher Pass Marathon, according to race organizer Andrea Hambach.

“We make people pretty aware that there needs to be a little bit of self-sufficiency on this course, simply because of the location,” Hambach said.

Competitors may run the marathon alone, but some runners team up to tackle the climb, running three legs that are each around nine miles. This year featured only four relay teams, while the rest of the participants decided to go solo.

Because the run took place July 4, the number of participants dropped considerably for the race’s fifth anniversary. Only around 35 people registered for the event, a number that pales in comparison to previous years.

“It’s a huge decrease,” Hambach said. “Normally we have between about 80 and 100, and I’m sure it has to do with the holiday weekend.”

This year, like in all of the previous editions of the Hatcher Pass Marathon, a portion of the registration fees will be donated to a local organization. Previous beneficiaries have included the Susitna Valley cross-country team for shirts and a Houston middle school teacher who wanted to buy gym shoes for some students. The race organizers usually like to donate to local causes, where they know how their contributions will be used.

“We find a group that needs funds and we just donate to them,” Hambach said.

The race’s donations will go this year to fire relief in some way, though Hambach admitted she’s still deciding on the exact beneficiaries.

“It’s either gonna be to an organization that’s set up or possibly to individuals,” she said. “There are a couple people that are runners that lost everything, so we may end up donating some to them.”

For more information about the Hatcher Pass Marathon, visit willowrunningcompany.com

Contact Kaden Weaver at 352-2270 or kaden.weaver@frontiersman.com