ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Matthew Novakovich won the 85th annual Mount Marathon men’s race Wednesday, capturing the final prize of the Independence Day event held on a mountain overlooking the town of Seward.
Novakovich, a 38-year-old Anchorage resident, pulled ahead on the uphill stretch to maintain a tight but all-important lead -- described by race announcers as about one minute -- over a dense leading field of race veterans. He reached the finish line with an official time of 44 minutes and 7 seconds, closely followed by UAA ski coach and 2010 winner Trond Flagstad at 44:26 and Mattias Saari at 45:13.
In the junior race held earlier Wednesday, runners Miles Knotek and Alison Ostrander were the first boy and girl down the hill, clocking in with respective times of 27:17 and 32:50.
The women’s race saw Anchorage Olympian Holly Brooks claimed her first win with a time of 51:53, maintaining a sizable lead over the field for most of the race.
