Mount Marathon

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- It may seem a little early to be thinking about the summer races up Alaska's mountains. But Monday marked the deadline to sign up for Seward's famous Mount Marathon race on July 4. It will be an anxious reunion for one runner who plans to compete again. Right now ski coach Bronwyn Patrick is where she belongs, on the spring slopes of Mount Alyeska in Girdwood. "I just like how steep they are and they're not very tall -- like you can get up most of them in a couple hours but they're really challenging.

Every building comes with some sort of history. In the town of Seward, one historic hotel carries with it a myth of a woman who died in the 1950s. In tonight's Assignment Alaska, reporter Christine Kim and photojournalist Eric Sowl take you to a hotel that some say attracts more than just the living. Drive into the town of Seward and you'll see it's rich with Alaskan treasures. It's home to Mount Marathon, the Alaska SeaLife Center -- and of course you can't forget to visit William H. Seward, the man after whom the town is named.

by Kevin Wells Friday, July 4, 2008 SEWARD, Alaska -- Anybody who completes the grueling ascent and treacherous descent of Mount Marathon is a winner. Still there are a few notable victors in this year's race -- namely women's champ Cedar Bourgeois and the top finisher in the men's race, Trond Flagstad. Bourgeois notched her fifth consecutive title while Flagstad led the field to take his first. But before the adults took to the mountain, juniors had their race, a shortened version of the adult's course.

by Kevin Wells Friday, July 2, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- There's just two days left until one of Alaska's top attractions on the sporting calendar: the 83rd annual Mount Marathon Race. Thousands flood the town of Seward to either race or simply watch, and two runners might just become 2010's peak performers. You might call Mount Marathon the grand-daddy of Alaska races -- a spectacle of sport and entertainment, appropriately held each 4th of July. Men's contender Brent Knight, an Alaska Pacific University Nordic skier, likens it to the fireworks of a quadrennial competition.

by Kevin Wells Saturday, July 3, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- One of the state's signature sporting events, the 83rd annual Mount Marathon Race, is set to take place in Seward Sunday. While the 4th of July event itself is widely known, the skill set and the mindset needed to succeed are less common knowledge. Trond Flagstad, the 2008 men's champion and winner of this year's race, broke the course down for Channel 2. Overlooking Resurrection Bay, Mount Marathon is an intimidating, 3,000-foot presence.

Mount Marathon runner Michael LeMaitre was in good shape before his disappearance Wednesday evening, according to race officials quoted in a Monday statement. The Seward Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the grueling Independence Day footrace up and down the mountain, released a timeline of events which led to an extensive air and ground search for LeMaitre that was suspended by state troopers Saturday night. A scaled-back search by the Seward Fire Department and volunteers continued Monday for the 66-year-old runner, who was last seen about 200 feet from the top of the mountain.

The No. 6 game of the year was no game at all. It was a gutty performance by a champion on her home turf as Cedar Bourgeois took first place at Mount Marathon for the seventh consecutive time. Bourgeois had dominated the July 4th Mount Marathon race in Seward for years, entering the 2010 race having won the past six straight competitions, but winning number seven would be no easy task. Bourgeois trailed Olympic Nordic skier Holly Brooks by more than two minutes at the half way point of the race.

On Saturday night, Alaska State Troopers have called off the organized search efforts for missing Mount Marathon runner Michael LeMaitre. AST met with the LeMaitre family at 9 p.m. Saturday to inform them about the decision. Troopers said all search efforts have failed to find any clues to indicate where LeMaitre may be or a direction of travel. The Seward Fire Department says it will continue to search on its own, however, a specific part of the mountain on Sunday. The 66-year old racer was reported missing at 9 p.m. Wednesday when he did not come back from the Mount Marathon race.

Eight-time Mount Marathon champion Bill Spencer and famed mountaineer Vern Tejas were the two individuals elected to the 2012 Alaska Sports Hall of Fame on Monday.  Spencer was also an Olympic nordic skier, while Tejas became the first person to make a solo ascent of Mt. McKinley and climbed the peak over 50 times. The 2012 sporting event inductee is the Gold Medal Basketball Tournament, held annually in Juneau for more than 60 years.  The event is huge for Southeast Alaska and rural Alaska communities.

Applications for the Mount Marathon race in Seward are now being accepted, according to the Seward Chamber of Commerce. This Fourth of July will mark the 86th year for the race that pushes runners up a 3,022 foot climb. Veterans and last year's finishers have priority, with the remaining slots filled through a lottery system. The last day to apply is March 31st, and lottery results will be announced in mid-April. Last year, 66-year-old Michael LeMaitre, a lottery participant, was last seen heading uphill about 200 feet from the top of the mountain.

Autumn Ludwig looked up the mountain and saw Penny Assman falling. Instead of running from the woman hurtle 15 feet toward, Ludwig braced for impact and tried to break Assman's fall. Assman feel 15 feet off Mount Marathon during the famously difficult Mount Marathon race this past Fourth of July. She ended up in the hospital for five days because of her injuries. This past week Ludwig, a volunteer fire fighter and EMT with the Bear Creek Fire Service Area, was awarded the State of Alaska 2012 Firefighter of the Year award.

Hundreds of runners open their hearts Saturday in Girdwood as they race for the man critically injured at Mount Marathon this year. Matt Kenney is still recovery from a 30 foot fall down the mountain during that race last month. All of the funds raised at today's Alyeska Classic Mountain Run are going to medical bills for the Kenneys and people were eager to support that cause. Not every runner here knew Matt Kenney personally but still, what happened to Matt Kenney hit everyone in the running community on a personal level.

After more than a week of continuously searching Mount Marathon in Seward, the family of missing runner Michael LeMaitre is calling off the search. The Seward Fire department has also suspended its search over the weekend, due to depleting resources and poor weather conditions. The Seward Fire chief says small search teams will be sent on the mountain when conditions improve. LeMaitre's son-in-law, Curtis Lynn, says the mountain is slick and becoming more dangerous, and the family does not want volunteers to continue risking injury.

The family of Michael LeMaitre held a celebration of life Friday night, more than a week after LeMaitre's July 4th disappearance during the Mount Marathon race. Since then, family and volunteers, including members of the Seward Volunteer Fire Department, have searched the mountain, even after Alaska State Troopers called their search efforts off last weekend. "I don't want to give up on my dad. And that's why I'm in Seward, that's why I'm looking for him, out with whatever search crew is available," said MaryAnne LeMaitre at her father's celebration of life.

As the family of a Mount Marathon Race runner reported missing after the Independence Day event schedules a celebration of life for him this week, at least two other runners have reported receiving major injuries in the race -- including a woman whose fall was caught on camera. Penny Assman fell off some rocks and ended up in the hospital for five days. In photos taken by Carol Griswold, Bear Creek Fire Department EMT Autumn Ludwig reaches for Assman as she falls at about 12:50 p.m. on July 4. Ludwig says she heard someone yell, 'She's falling.' When she looked up she saw Assman reaching for some tree branches to stop herself, but after that didn't work Ludwig reached up to try to help.

Mount Marathon runner Michael LeMaitre was in good shape before his disappearance Wednesday evening, according to race officials quoted in a Monday statement. The Seward Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the grueling Independence Day footrace up and down the mountain, released a timeline of events which led to an extensive air and ground search for LeMaitre that was suspended by state troopers Saturday night. A scaled-back search by the Seward Fire Department and volunteers continued Monday for the 66-year-old runner, who was last seen about 200 feet from the top of the mountain.

In this year's "Mount Marathon Race" not only has one runner disappeared, but tonight (Sunday), another runner -- badly injured during the steep mountain run -- remains hospitalized in a coma. 41-year-old Matthew Kenney of Anchorage, the father of 2, was badly hurt in a 30-foot-fall last Wedensday. He suffered brain injuries and a compound fracture of his leg. The slopes on the Marathon Mountain can be as steep as the pitch of a roof -- and such slopes can extend for hundreds of feet.

On Saturday night, Alaska State Troopers have called off the organized search efforts for missing Mount Marathon runner Michael LeMaitre. AST met with the LeMaitre family at 9 p.m. Saturday to inform them about the decision. Troopers said all search efforts have failed to find any clues to indicate where LeMaitre may be or a direction of travel. The Seward Fire Department says it will continue to search on its own, however, a specific part of the mountain on Sunday. The 66-year old racer was reported missing at 9 p.m. Wednesday when he did not come back from the Mount Marathon race.

A search of Mount Marathon near Seward resumed Saturday morning after being suspended Friday evening for Michael LeMaitre, the 66-year-old runner last seen during the 85th annual Mount Marathon footrace Wednesday. Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Beth Ipsen and searchers say the footrace's trail and its surroundings were thoroughly searched Thursday and Friday, despite searchers reporting difficulties including poor visibility, rockslides and encounters with two black bears. Saturday's efforts, with at least 65 searchers on the mountain being aided by clearer weather,  focused on areas of Mount Marathon not yet explored.