Valley represented well in annual holiday race

SEWARD — Nearly 90 athletes and even more spectators from the Mat-Su Valley flocked to Seward’s star attraction, the annual Mount Marathon race, July 4th.

Runners from all over the country traveled to Seward to challenge the mountain this year, but folks hailing from the Palmer-Wasilla area provided a significant chunk of the competition. Familiar names such as Christy Marvin, Eric Strabel, Lyon Kopsack and Wylie Mangelsdorf were seen high in the results once again.

Marvin, a Palmer native and last year’s winner of the women’s race at Mount Marathon, clocked in at 52 minutes and 50 seconds, just two seconds behind this year’s winner, U.S. Olympic skier Holly Brooks.

“I didn’t have a strong uphill — it was the worst of the year — but I did about all I could do to make it up on the downhill. I needed one more block of road,” Marvin said.

Despite the loss of her title, Marvin remains — supernaturally, perhaps — optimistic, citing her faith in God as the reason for her positivity.

“A lot of my inspiration and encouragement comes from my faith in Christ. I know I can compete fearlessly because he’s got my back, and I can accept defeat with as much grace (hopefully) as a win,” Marvin said.

Something to remember with Marvin, too is her virtual “rookie” status, 2014 being only her second year racing Mount Marathon. After attending Colorado State University and working the road running circuit outside for a few years, Marvin said the change of pace was a welcome one.

“Who wouldn’t want to train in the mountains in Alaska?” Marvin asked, smiling.

Other than the scenery though, community seems to be the largest motivating factor for Valley athletes.

“As far as racing in Alaska, this one has the most encouragement from fans,” Marvin said.

Wylie Mangelsdorf, a 2010 Palmer High graduate and recent graduate of Principia College in Illinois, has also appreciated the fans in the two years he has raced Mount Marathon.

“I love the mountain running community. It’s really like a team,” Mangelsdorf said.

Mangelsdorf finished sixth this year in a time of 47:29, behind rookie Jim Shine and returners Ricky Gates (46:48), Matt Novakovich (45:58), Matias Saari (45:52) and Eric Strabel (44:45).

In the next year, Mangelsdorf intends to take a break from the mountain to help coach cross country and track and field at his alma mater, while doing some freelance work with his degree in graphic design.

Ryan Harrington, a 2006 graduate of Palmer High School and Mount Marathon participant of six years, seconded the exceptional amount of support from spectators.

“Everyone’s so supportive, giving you water, cheering you on. The community really comes together,” Harrington said.

Tracie Haan, a 2014 graduate of Colony High School and three-year participant of the race agreed.

“You feel like you’re part of something bigger,” Haan said.

With runners like Eric Strabel in the mix, perhaps it is no surprise that so many people are drawn to the race.

“It seems like everyone I know comes down to Seward for this race,” said Strabel, a former Colony High School running and skiing star.

This year Strabel added another win to the three total he achieved as a junior and adult racer in the past 21 years of Mount Marathons. Although 2014 was not a record-breaking year for him, Strabel still cut a gap of over a minute between first and second place. At this point, running the race has now become “just routine,” Strabel said.

Runners like Kerry Klauder, another Colony graduate (2004) who has run the race 13 times including the half-mountain junior version, express a similar sentiment in regard to routine.

“I’ve done it so many times now I can’t not do it,” Klauder said.

Patti Ricker of Wasilla has run the race 14 times and agrees that the mountain is strangely hard to resist.

“I was only going to do it once,” Ricker said.

For Lyon Kopsack, a 2014 Colony High graduate, “routine” could be translated as “tradition,” as he climbed the mountain with his father Lance, his uncle Braun, and sisters Alyson, Jocelyn and Brooklyn this year. Lyon’s grandfather and namesake of the Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb at Bird Ridge has also spurred him on in his mountain running career.

“I just grew up climbing mountains,” Kopsack said.

Kopsack placed 16th in the men’s race this year with a time of 52:21 after winning the junior race last year. He has been running this race since 2005 and plans to continue in the future.

“I’m going to be doing it for the rest of my life, I know that,” Kopsack said.

Kopsack has accepted a cross-country scholarship at UAF and intends to train with their Nordic ski team this coming academic year to further his competitive athletic career.

Where some racers simply have a history of mountain running or love the holiday festivities, for others, the race means just a little bit more.

Heidi Doner, a 2010 Colony High graduate, returned to race the mountain just seven months after having major surgery. Despite two medical waivers used in six or so years of running Mount Marathon, Doner decided not to make it a third and came back to have her “best race ever.”

“God is so good,” Doner said in response to her full and fast recovery.

Still, Doner maintains something of a love-hate relationship with the mountain. Laughing, she recalled why she continues to show up year after year:

“Because you have 364 days to forget how awful it is!”

For newbies like Allan Spangler, another Colony graduate, who won the lottery that allowed him to race for the first time this year, however, a reason to run it was unnecessary.

“Why not? It’s the most popular mountain race in Alaska. I wasn’t expecting to get in,” Spangler said.

Despite what his expectations may have been, Spangler finished eighth in the men’s race with a time of 49:21.

Dani Buckley (Colony ’09) and Dylan Gumminger (Colony ’14) were also new to the Mount Marathon racing scene, and finished 78th at 122:13 in the women’s race and 167th at 119:57 in the men’s, respectively.

Marvin and Doner were among five Valley runners to finish in the top-35 of the women’s race. Palmer’s Alisa Kincaid finished 16th with a time of 1:04:38. Leslie Varys of Wasilla, a Wasilla High running coach, finished 22nd with a time of 1:06:49. Abby Jahn of Wasilla was 34th at 1:09:38.

2014 Mount Marathon

Valley finishers

Men’s class:

1. E. Strabel, Pal 44:46; 6. W. Mangelsdorf, Pal 47:51; 16. L. Kopsack, Pal 52:22; 41. L. Kopsack, Pal 58:23; 43. B. King, Pal 59:09; 51. J. Hogge, Was 1:00:21; 58. L. Reed, Was 1:02:05; 66. J. Dougherty, Pal 1:03:16; 81. B. Kopsack, Pal 1:06:44; 93. R. Maxwell, Pal 1:08:12; 97. J. Clark, Pal 1:09:00; 99. T. Harrington, Pal 1:09:10; 104. S. Gage, Was 1:10:19; 133. J. Murray, Wil 1:14:47; 134. J. Williams, Pal 1:14:57; 144. M. Rubeo, Was 1:16:23; 165. R. Huppert, Was 1:19:15; 172. D. Gumminger, Was 1:19:57; 173. D. Dunlap, Pal 1:19:58; 174. N. Gotshall, Pal 1:20:10; 177. J. Hawkins, Pal 1:20:34; 211. K. Klauder, Pal 1:27:53; 215. A. Marchini, Pal 1:28:25; 242. D. Drobkov, Was 1:36:08; 251. J. Hawkins, Pal 1:40:30; 252. K. Swanson, Tal 1:40:38; 267. K. Peterson, Was 1:46:08; 268. S. LaRue, Pal 1:46:44;

Women’s class:

2. C. Marvin, Pal 52:51; 16. A. Kincaid, Pal 1:04:38; 22. L. Varys, Was 1:06:49; 23. H. Doner, Pal 1:07:39; 34. A. Jahn, Was 1:09:38; 58. A. Rubeo, Was 1:17:21; 79. R. Millard, Was 1:22:27; 88. C. Ess, Sut 1:23:38; 99. S. Kolstad, Pal 1:25:22; 124. T. Haan, Pal 1:29:10; 132. U. Fogarty, Was 1:30:41; 139. J. Wallace, Was 1:32:18; 142. B. Kopsack, Pal 1:33:22; 153. A. Woodings, Pal 1:35:20; 166. R. Ace, Was 1:39:45; 175. P. Ricker, Was 1:42:27; 198. S. Skvorc, Was 1:47:59; 209. T. Corneliussen, Was 1:51:12; 234. H. Peterson, Was 1:59:11; 236. A. Sheffield, Was 1:59:53; 241. M. Besse, Pal 2:06:01; 253. J. Reeves, Pal 2:14:02; 262. A. Ace, Pal 2:24:15; 271. H. Wierzbicki, Was 2:46:02.

Junior race:

43. B. Gross, Tal 38:35; 45. J. Kopsack, Pal 38:39; 56. T. Spaic, Pal 40:40; 63. C. Wolfe, Was 41:17; 64. A. Kopsack, Pal 41:18; 76. B. Kopsack, Pal 44:14; 95. J. Zugg, Pal 46:56; 97. I. Millard, Was 47:14; 99. J. Hogge, Was 47:25; 100. R. Woodings, Pal 47:25; 108. J. Lee, Pal 48:18; 118. R. Berrigan, Pal 48:38; 122. C. Marvin, Pal 48:51; 130. J. Hawkins, Pal 50:20; 149. T. Lee, Pal 52:36; 179. M. Cizek, Was 1:02:16; 180. S. Uschmann, Pal 1:03:14; 185. C. Haan, Pal 1:06:05; 189. M. Smart, Pal 1:07:39; 190. S. Nevada, Pal 1:08:05; 192. L. Cizek, Was 1:10:08; 199. J. Hawkins, Pal 1:17:20; 201. M. Showalter, Pal 1:17:37; 211. C. Uschmann, Pal 1:28:13; 212. E. Uschmann, Pal 1:29:11;