‘Running With the Bulls’ celebrates 15 years at the Musk Ox Farm

PALMER — Nearly 200 people ran among 82 musk oxen for the annual Running with the Bulls race at the Musk Ox Farm Sunday. After 15 years, the race has established a substantial following and for some, it has become a tradition in its own right. The race is a fundraising event that supports the farm’s nonprofit operation. There was a 5K, 10K and Kids 1K race, with a leisurely 5K walk around the 75 acres of grassland. Tour guides educated attendees about the farm and its furry inhabitants throughout the day. Kids could feed the baby musk oxen while their parents snapped photos.

There was also live music and food. Bistro Red Beet had a snack bar with handmade snacks like pies and salads. Grin and Baehr It, a local Americana folk band, performed throughout the day with a mixture of covers and original songs. They even played some children songs like the folk-infused “Itsy Bitsy Spider” that blended with other children’s songs like “Mary Had Little Lamb” into a hop-skip, country-fried rhythm. The band also played original songs about Alaska and talked to the audience about their experiences at the farm.

“This is one of the best ways to see the farm because you will see parts you normally wouldn’t’ see,” said Musk Ox Farm director Mark Austin.

The races began with the kids then the 5K and 10K. Separated by metal fences, the musk oxen would sometimes run alongside the racers, but mostly stuck to themselves.

Regular volunteer and race photographer Michael Sherry said the animals were “somewhat domesticated but still have a little wild in them.”

“They seem to fare pretty well. These animals are very well taken care of,” Sherry said. “They get to roam like they do in the wild, they just don’t have to worry about wolves.”

The animals were always safely separated from the runners. The musk oxen were mostly busy grazing but would sometimes get excited as big waves of runners ran past. The females would run the opposite way and huddle in a circle while the bulls would become agitated and grunt at the commotion. Since the bulls were riled up, they kept bashing into each other.

"To the musk ox, the runners look like wolves so they're probably a little worried," said tour guide Suzanne Ouellette.

The top six children received musk oxen stuffed animals and medals for the top three boys and the top three girls. Adult participants participated in a raffle for prizes like flight tours and gift certificates.

Austin said it was a pretty big race this year and a lot of people pre-registered. There were many repeat racers there and for many, it’s become an annual habit.

Mat-Su College Director, Talis Colberg has only missed four races since it began in 2002.

“I haven't won yet. I keep coming back knowing I'll taste the sweet agony of defeat,” Colberg laughed. “If I keep doing this until I'm 90, maybe they’ll open a new category for 90 year olds then I'll finally win.”

Two sisters, Ashandra, 8, and Gwendelyn, 6, Walker were filling their Adventure Book by competing in the kids race because it’s “fun” and they “like running.” They picked up their Adventure Books from Active Soles Performance Footwear and have been adding stamps for each of their adventures, like hiking, biking and other outdoor activities. They plan to fill their log by October where there will be an award ceremony. Each stamp earns them a ticket and Active Soles will give out prizes for the tickets.

“It’s more for the adventure than the tickets,” said their mother, Michelle Walker.

The entire Walker family participated in the race. Parents, Michelle and Dave did the 5K walk.

“In my case, it’s more of a waddle,” Dave said.

Lucas Reich, 11, won the children’s race at 4:29.50 while competing with his sister Emily, 9, who placed in the top four for girls. This is Lucas’s sixth year competing and Emily’s fifth year. Lucas didn’t train specifically for the event but he likes to run and has been in cross-country since the fourth grade.

Another pair of sisters, two adults, one local and the other visiting from Portland, Oregon, returned for their second race. Katherine Paulick and Emily Rivers (from Portland) finished within seconds of each other at 45:28:03 and 45:13:51. They both said the race has become an annual tradition for their family to participate in while coming up to Alaska. Rivers said it was good to “get all the cousins together” and that they would keep coming “as long as we can.”

“It’s good family event,” Paulick said.

2017 Running with the Bulls

Sunday, Palmer Musk Ox Farm

Girls 14&U 1,000-meter:

1. Bishop, Emily, 4:48.50; 2. Jenski, Riley, 5:01.90; 3. Kwan, Aspen, 5:07.30; 4. Reich, Emily, 5:21.00; 5. Pruett, Brooklynn, 5:53.20; 6. Fleming, Madison,

6:07.60; 7. Paulick, Wren, 6:42.20; 8. Walker, Gwendelyn, 6:43.10; 9. Rivers, Everett, 7:09.20; 10. Rivers, Ellie, 7:15.30; 11. Walker, Ashandra, 7:18.70; 12.

Young, Janet, 7:37.20; 13. Hulen, Kaia, 8:03.50; 14. Evans, Sonja, 8:28.80; 15. Johson, Sawyer, 8:40.00; 16. Boddag, Autrum, 9:18.10; 17. Wagoner, Shyanne,

10:05.30; 18. Knight, Caroline, 10:13.30; 19. Myers, Riley, 10:40.10; 20. Anthis, Solveig, 13:00.60; 21. Thorvilson, Sara, 13:01.51; 22. Evans, Freja, 13:55.20.

Boys 14&U 1,000-meter:

1. Reich, Lucas, 4:29.50; 2. Boddag, Jude, 5:22.00; 3. Doering, Griffin, 5:25.90; 4. Kincaid, Xavier, 5:38.30; 5. Oelkers, Soren, 5:56.10; 6. Nault, Xander,6:29.50; 7. Calvery, Keegan, 6:30.50; 8. Holt, Patrick, 6:41.50; 9. Savage, Kellan, 7:04.10; 10. Holt, Parker, 7:36.30; 11. Oelkers, Hakon, 7:51.50; 12. Martiny,Hank, 8:05.90; 13. Burns, Kenneth, 9:09.70; 14. Johnson, Reid, 9:21.40; 15. Pauling, Jace, 10:28.30; 16. Pauling, Vince, 10:31.80; 17. Nault, Gabriel, 10:44.30; 18.Knight, Henry, 10:55.60; 19. Myers, Logan, 11:01.10; 20. Moffitt, Elias, 11:57.90; 21. Sanders, Adam, 12:10.40; 22. Thorvilson, Gunnar, 13:01.50.

Women 24&U 5,000-meter:

1. Andrisr, Lena, 32:56.35; 2. Cherneski, Darian, 32:58.15; 3. Shetter, Karianne, 36:33.74; 4. Lupin, Laura, 36:44.29; 5. Zink, Isabelle, 38:38.98; 6. Campfield,

Esme, 41:27.75; 7. Kolberg, Daisy, 54:17.58; 8. Zink, Lily May, 54:24.95; 9. Campfield, Greta, 54:47.59; 10. Brown, Scarlet, 55:29.76; 11. Weiss, Genevieve,

55:45.22; 12. Martiny, Maddy, 59:34.99; 13. Dayton, Camille, 1:03:04.77; 14. Hearn, Maddalyn, 1:08:00.23; 15. Farrell, Braelyn, 1:18:38.23; 16. Farrell, Avarie,1:18:38.94.

Women 25-44 5000-meter:

1. Klein, Gretchen, 29:20.85; 2. Barnes, Andrea, 29:49.00; 3. Moffitt, Kristin, 30:10.79; 4. Pauling, Adrienne, 32:41.14; 5. Campfield, Mike, 32:46.72; 6. McKeel, Jousette, 34:20.73; 7. Kincaid, Molly, 42:42.99; 8. Kelly, Rebeka, 42:51.03; 9. Holt, Trina, 43:26.39; 10. Hodgson, Theresa, 44:06.52; 11. Harris, Tammy, 44:14.85; 12. Rivers, Emily, 45:13.51; 13. Paulick, Katherine, 45:28.03; 14. Michael, Misti, 49:29.27; 15. Pereira, Rachel, 50:10.08; 16. Wouk, Kristin, 50:45.10; 17. Kinder, Kim, 51:37.10; 18. Bishop, Brandy, 52:03.65; 19. Engstrom, Sarah, 52:19.43; 20. Young, Felicity, 52:33.47; 21. Clark, Jody, 53:13.47; 22. Jenski, Dana, 53:15.25; 23. Jenski, Kari, 53:58.34; 24. Tucker, Becky, 54:18.38; 25. Brown, Shana, 56:01.58; 26. Hansen, Sarah, 57:01.69; 27. Brown, Paula, 57:03.28; 28. Martiny, Gillian, 1:00:21.37; 29. Sweet, Alyssa, 1:04:15.93; 30. Sweet, Serena, 1:04:18.53; 31. Namauu, Megan, 1:06:03.20; 32. Walker, Michele, 1:08:20.62; 33. Halford, Kelsey, 1:08:54.28; 34. Johnson, Kate, 1:10:15.70; 35. Simoni, Danielle, 1:10:24.82; 36. Thompson, Alice, 1:11:47.62; 37. Bisson, Lauren, 1:11:57.71; 38. Bisson, Kelsey, 1:12:07.33; 39. Farrell, Ashley, 1:18:37.48; 40. Shea, Kathy, 1:22:20.12; 40. Webb, Rebecca, 1:22:20.12; 40. Gale, Carolyn, 1:22:20.12; 40. Gomez, Valerie,1:22:20.12.

Women 45-99 5000-meter:

1. Remaley, Linda, 30:56.73; 2. Chadwell, Sandy, 32:50.84; 3. Kalytiak, Tracy, 34:04.61; 4. Kennedy, Lisa, 35:53.44; 5. Morganson, Terri, 35:58.03; 6. Vernon,

Nancy, 36:45.04; 7. Ellett-Burns, Jenness, 36:59.59; 8. Andrist, Barbara, 37:00.57; 9. Cubbison, Cheri, 38:55.75; 10. Wagoner, Sonya, 40:15.49; 11. Nault, Barbara,

49:00.67; 12. Moeller, Emma, 50:43.62; 13. Stanford, Kimala, 50:53.41; 14. Slaven, Theresa, 52:16.21; 15. Lord, Emma, 52:31.88; 16. Cordeiro, Erica, 53:58.59; 17.

Henrikson, Lee, 55:11.15; 18. Sanden, Penny, 55:11.92; 19. Crowder, Amy, 55:28.61; 20. Turpin, Michelle, 59:33.32; 21. Dayton, Roxann, 1:03:01.01; 22. Ouellette,

Robin, 1:03:07.76; 23. Smith Hahn, Lori, 1:03:53.85; 24. Sterrett, Tammy, 1:05:24.19; 25. Lynch, Deann, 1:06:47.91; 26. Cohnen-Brown, Eva, 1:07:58.98; 27. Taylor,

Marguerite, 1:08:02.12; 28. Halford, Lynn, 1:10:17.22; 29. Helm, Dot, 1:10:20.95; 30. Geary, Gini, 1:11:45.46; 31. Geary, Mike, 1:11:46.58; 32. Mathias, Pat,

1:11:48.55; 33. Albecker, Petra, 1:15:20.13; 34. Frost, Deanna, 1:18:27.89; 35. Ladd, Kathy, 1:18:36.00.

Men 24&U 5000 Meter:

1. Lynch, Boon, 19:36.90; 2. Long, Cole, 20:36.87; 3. Michael, Charlie, 32:48.63; 4. Tkachenko, Micah, 37:22.61; 5. Tkachen Ko, Michael, 38:03.42; 6. Young, Sebastian, 39:38.92; 7. Turpin, Elias, 39:50.86; 8. Kent, Tyler, 52:43.05; 9. Hansen, Caleb, 56:09.94; 10. Hearn, Miles, 1:00:21.93.

Men 25-44 5000-meter:

1. Conaway, Kenneth, 22:50.90; 2. Lynch, Ben, 23:25.48; 3. Lynch, Kyle, 24:32.83; 4. Paddock, Spencer, 25:08.68; 5. Zink, Traverse, 33:04.41; 6. Wagoner,Kristopher, 35:42.45; 7. Knight, Marcus, 38:03.87; 8. Sweet, Ryan, 1:04:00.79; 9. Sterrett, Ben, 1:04:13.93; 10. Smith, Neal, 1:11:56.28; 11. Walker, Dan,

1:18:37.16.

Men 45-99 5000-meter:

1. Michael, Dan, 30:38.48; 2. Morganson, Mike, 30:46.03; 3. Colberg, Talis, 33:40.12; 4. Webb, Richard, 43:24.99; 5. Frost, Bob, 48:38.36; 6. Wallace, Dave,49:14.91; 7. Chmielewski, Mike, 55:10.80; 8. Fidler, Tom, 57:55.04; 9. Ander, Anthony, 1:03:55.05; 10. Lynch, Steve, 1:06:04.59; 11. Bisson, Roland, 1:12:09.12; 12.Cosgrove, Terry, 1:18:26.36.

Women 24&U 10,000-meter:

1. Klebesadel, Jenni, 1:04:13.24; 2. Turpin, Priscilla, 1:23:29.78; 3. Mathews, Cheyenne, 1:24:02.72.

Women 25-44 10,000-mete:

1. Sarginger, Alisha, 1:02:09.81; 2. Morrison, Anne, 1:07:11.60; 3. Wagoner, Shelby, 1:07:24.92; 4. Husher-Rodriguez, Angel, 1:11:37.32; 5. Sonja, Lynm,1:16:45.18; 6. Winters, Desiree, 1:28:34.99.

Women 45-99 10000-meter:

1. Halvorson, Carol, 1:00:17.51; 2. Rosen, Yereth, 1:04:15.91; 3. Greenberg, Rachel, 1:10:54.44.

Men 24&U 10000-meter:

1. Burris, Alec, 48:27.91; 2. Turpin, Lorin, 53:35.78.

Men 25-44 10000-run:

1. Rivers, Sean, 40:20.78; 2. Parrish, Frederick, 48:46.05; 3. Hodgson, Gunner, 53:44.98; 4. Schroeter, Robert, 1:07:15.44; 5. Rodriguez, Neil, 1:07:20.40; 6. Kinder Jesse, 1:09:16.10.

Men 45-99 10000-run:

1. Long, Lars, 51:40.21; 2. Brown, Stephen, 1:09:06.45.