Wasilla High coach tackles Crow Pass Crossing race

EAGLE RIVER — Four years ago, after Gary Howell competed in the Crow Pass Crossing for the first time, the Wasilla High cross-country running coach and track and field coach didn’t know if he’d ever give the grueling 24-mile marathon over rugged trail a try again.

And he seemed content with that.

But this summer, Howell got the urge to tackle the infamous Crow Pass Crossing once again. And the result surpassed his greatest of expectations.

Howell clocked a time of 3 hours and 17 minutes in Saturday’s race along the Crow Pass Trail from Girdwood to the Eagle River Nature Center to finish as the top Mat-Su Valley resident in the race, and fifth of 131 runners in the overall standings.

“I really was really happy (with my time). I thought in the back of my head, 3:20 would be ideal,” Howell said. When Howell signed up for the race, he said he didn’t recognize at a ton of the participants in the field. But he does know the big guns, runners like Geoff Ross, Eric Strabel and Matias Saari, who have owned the top spots in some of Alaska’s toughest races in recent years. With that, Howell thought maybe he could slide in for a top-5 finish.

Sure enough, he did.

“I can’t complain at all,” Howell said.

Earlier this year, Howell had no thought of giving Crow Pass a shot this summer. But during a routine training run during a vacation in Hawaii, a pair of passers-bye asked what the heck Howell was training for. His response, Howell knew he’d have a tough group of runners during the upcoming track season and he was preparing to keep up.

“They said you’re running way too fast not to be training for something,” Howell said. “I thought, you know I should run a race. I just should go do it.”

So Howell picked Crow Pass.

Howell said, typically trail running seems to suit him best, rather than pounding the pavement or the straight uphill mountain runs. Having run the race before was also a big help.

“Having the knowledge and now knowing what I was going to face physically (was huge),” Howell said. “Expecting the depletions, the soreness, the cramping, knowing it was coming.”

Howell said having a training partner, Seward running coach Dan Marshall, was also a big help.

Roes and Strabel, who hold the top 7 times in race history, finished in the top two spots, separated by just two minutes. Roes of Juneau, won the race with a time of 3:00:28. Strabel, a Colony High graduate who now lives in Anchorage was second at 3:02.

Saari was third at 3:06:37.

Kiersten Lippmann won the women’s class with a time of 3:36:25.

Crow Pass Crossing

Saturday

1. Geoff Roes 3:00:28; 2. Eric Strabel 3:02:14; 3. Matias Saari 3:06:37; 4. Patrick Johnson 3:15:24; 5. Gary Howell 3:17:05; 6. Scott Patterson 3:19:56; 7. A. Willie Stoll 3:29:09; 8. Tom Bronga 3:31:25; 9. John Weddleton 3:33:29; 10. Tony Slatonbarker 3:34:31; 11. Grant Stevenson 3:35:19; 12. Kiersten Lippmann 3:36:25; 13. Matthew Green 3:37:20; 14. Erin Phillips 3:37:36; 15. John Bursell 3:38:55; 16. Patrick Conway 3:40:06; 17. Dan Marshall 3:40:21; 18. Lance Kopsack 3:41:24; 19. Andrew Lee 3:44:15; 20. James Zwiefel 3:44:52; 21. Mark Brady 3:46:44; 22. Najeeby Quinn 3:47:29; 23. Jason Burkhead 3:47:56; 24. Abby Rideout 3:48:21; 25. Thomas Wells 3:49:51; 26. Laron Thomas 3:50:25; 27. Rachel Phelps 3:50:47; 28. Bryan Hitchcock 3:51:00; 29. Joe Magellan 3:51:19; 30. Ryan Heffernan 3:52:48; 31. Doug Ketterer 3:53:17; 32. Ben Spiess 3:53:50; 33. Ryan Kircher 3:53:53; 34. Danielle Dalton 3:55:50; 35. David Roosa 3:57:20; 36. Guy Thibodeau 3:59:25; 37. Ben Rolfs 3:59:33; 38. Mike Heatwolf 3:59:42; 39. Braun Kopsack 4:00:00; 40. Zach Keskinen 4:01:25; 41. Brian Stone 4:02:03; 42. Caitlin Patterson 4:02:10; 43. Danielle Pratt 4:05:43; 44. David Valdes 4:06:44; 45. Jamie Cawood 4:06:50; 46. Aubrey Smith 4:07:30; 47. Jim McDonough 4:07:51; 48. Greg Veltkamp 4:08:13; 49. Dan Lesh 4:09:11 50. Mike Brock 4:09:32; 51. Christie Haupert 4:10:33; 52. Melissa Lewis 4:10:48; 53. Brad Garland 4:13:28; 54. David Popiel 4:13:48; 55. Dare Hedum 4:15:58; 56. Marc Johnson 4:17:03; 57. Jennifer Donovan 4:17:56; 58. Paul Clark 4:18:14; 59. Jeff Jessen 4:18:37; 60. Kevin Taylor 4:19:34; 61. John Nagel 4:22:01; 62. Brian Pautzke 4:24:30; 63. Adam Cohen 4:26:53; 64. Bob Gerik 4:27:38; 65. Tony Arturo 4:28:17; 66. Laura McDonough 4:28:45; 67. James Kech 4:29:40; 68. Laura Fox 4:30:00; 69. Stephen Rideout 4:30:08; 70. Heather Gaines 4:30:11; 71. Michael Vander Lugt 4:30:53; 72. Philip Vander Lugt 4:30:53; 73. Glenn Frick 4:30:56; 74. Steve Young 4:31:30; 75. John Hellen 4:32:01; 76. Mike Edwards 4:32:41; 77. Amber M. McDonough 4:32:56; 78. Robert Loyd 4:34:53; 79. Mike DiFilippo 4:34:55; 80. Kyle Denise Colburn 4:36:23; 81. Keith MacPhail 4:37:25; 82. Tarek Wetzel 4:37:47; 83. Dorian Gross 4:40:37; 84. Ricky Pico 4:41:00; 85. Ryan Strong 4:43:59; 86. Peter Fuller 4:44:34; 87. Dan Polito 4:44:35; 88. Ryan McLaughlin 4:45:16; 89. Letta Stokes 4:46:16; 90. Susan Caseys 4:46:18; 91. Paul Gloe 4:47:34; 92. Edward Soto 4:48:19; 93. Harrison Alger 4:48:59; 94. Mark Hansen 4:50:25; 95. Mike Petersen 4:50:45; 96. Jessie Westin 4:51:43; 97. Lloyd P. Melone III 4:51:44; 98. Nelson Priddy 4:53:26; 99. Emily Slaughter 4:57:45; 100. Jeff Bool 4:58:17; 101. Dan Harrell 5:00:04; 102. Derek W. Nottingham 5:01:32; 103. Jared Friesen 5:04:07; 104. Kari Konrath-Bera 5:07:41; 105. Michael Stahl 5:10:32; 106. Mike Wahlig 5:11:10; 107. Benjamin Keller 5:11:19; 108. Danielle Firth 5:11:44; 109. Ken McInally 5:13:33; 110. Josh Meals 5:14:21; 111. Adam Baxter 5:14:23; 112. Doreen Rossberg 5:14:35; 113. Jose Gross 5:18:40; 114. Elizabeth Morgan 5:19:19; 115. Aaron Christie 5:20:22; 116. Yvonne Leutwyler 5:27:47; 117. Pam Todd 5:28:35; 118. Jeromy Scheel 5:29:38; 119. Brandon King 5:30:38; 120. Chris Kueseth 5:30:40; 121. Ron Larsen 5:32:10; 122. William McCormick 5:32:54; 123. Andrea Hambach 5:34:02; 124. David Johnston 5:34:03; 125. Jeff Mailloux 5:34:18; 126. Natasha Burroughs 5:42:46; 127. Annette Fortune 5:43:49; 128. Doyle Woody 5:45:09; 129. Evan Steinhauser 5:47:53; 130. Danelle VanHolstyn 5:49:06; 131. Christopher Redfox 5:50:37.