The Steep Stuff Podcast
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The Steep Stuff Podcast
Mount Marathon Race Companion
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A 5K with nearly 3,000 feet of climbing should not be able to feel this fast, but Mount Marathon always does. We’re heading into July 4 in Seward, Alaska with a start list that looks deeper than usual, and we wanted a true course and field preview that actually helps you watch the race with smarter eyes. Meg Cook joins us to unpack why Mount Marathon still represents the most primal version of mountain running: a hard uphill road start, a chaotic funnel into the mountain, and a descent where commitment matters as much as fitness.
We walk through the course section by section, including the early decision between the cliffs and the roots, the tight “squirrels” zone where passing gets tricky, and the grind to the top that turns into hands-on-knees hiking. Then we get into the part everyone talks about: the descent. We cover scree technique, how snow can change the fastest line, why the gut can be wet, slippery, and decisive, and what makes the final road sprint feel so brutal after you’ve already burned your legs on the mountain. We also talk practical gear and trail running tactics, from minimal shoe choices and gaiters to why some racers wear gloves just to survive the scree.
From there, we zoom out to the competition and the storylines. We talk how Mount Marathon qualification works, why petitions are “do or die,” and why experience on this hill still matters even with elite skyrunning talent arriving. We break down the men’s and women’s contenders, debate whether records are on the table, and make our picks for the top five on both sides. If you love mountain racing, skyrunning, and the culture around historic trail running events, this one gives you a complete watch guide.
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Why Mount Marathon Feels Primal
SPEAKER_00All right, Meg Cook, welcome back to the Steep Stuff Podcast. How's it going?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, good. Thanks, James. How are you doing?
SPEAKER_00I'm doing great. I couldn't be more stoked. Uh it is Mount Marathon week and couldn't be happier to have you on to uh do a preview episode for Mount Marathon. This is so exciting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's gonna be fun. Um I get some really cool fields shaping up. So yeah, it's gonna be a fun race.
SPEAKER_00Amazing, amazing. Well, let's just dive right into it. You're alumnus of this race. Maybe talk about what this race means to you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I did this race back in 2024. Um, lucked out and got in on the lottery, which um first time even trying, and everyone was like, oh my god, how did you get in? And I was like, I just applied, you know? Um and so went up to seward, didn't know really much about the race, um, except I knew it was steep, it was techie, and all the fun things I love. Um yeah, so just kind of went up and embraced it and yeah, had a great time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it is. I mean, just I I I don't know. Uh you've got to run a bunch of mountain running races. I've run a bunch of mountain running races in in the US, and I have not touched touch foot on uh on Mount Marathon yet, but what I can tell from afar, just from the community, from the race itself, from the course, it just represents, I feel like, some of the highest ideals of our sport. Like it's very, it's very pure, it's very primal where you're you're hucking yourself up this off up this peak and whichever way you want to go, and then throwing yourself off of it. And it's uh, I don't know. It just seems like some of the the coolest aspects of our sport uh represented on that day.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'd say kind of pure on slightly primal is a good way to describe it. Um it's still very community-based. Um probably 95% of people that turn up are from like the local area, whether they're from Seward, maybe as far as Anchorage. Um yeah, it's just great.
SPEAKER_00So cool. The year you ran it, I can't remember because I didn't go back in time to to check this. Did you run? So for the audience who doesn't know, they split the men's and the women's race up. And we'll talk about this a little bit later as we kind of get into more of the nuts and bolts. Um, but did you have it morning or afternoon? Which which which wave did you guys go?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was afternoon. Um, so it splits every other year. So I ran 2024, so an even year, which means the women go last, um, which is the same again this year.
SPEAKER_00Same again this year. Super exciting. Um yeah. Well, it's interesting because I don't know, maybe you can kind of talk to this. I know I'm all over the place, but from the feel of it, from the vibes, from the start list, I feel like this uh might be the most competitive Mount Marathon race that we've had possibly since 2015. And we all know what happened in 2015. Emily Forrestberg was there, Ricky Gates was there, Killian Journey was there. It was this very, very competitive men's and women's race. Um and uh we've got a lot of returning champions on both sides, and it's it's looking crazy.
SPEAKER_01For sure. Yeah, I think there's gonna be a big element of um sort of experience versus newcomers um without Teryx picking up the race. That means that a lot of their athletes are coming, which just adds sort of, yeah, this pool of really, really high performing, absolute mountain beasts. So yeah, um definitely gonna be competitive.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes. All right, let's dive into
Course Breakdown From Road To Summit
SPEAKER_00we could dive into some general information. I think that's fair. Uh taking place July 4th. Uh so this race every year, July 4th weekend on July 4th. Uh, that's the history, that's the lure of why this race is so important. Thousands of people line the streets of Seward, Alaska uh to watch these athletes ascend, what is it? Almost almost 3,000 feet. What is it, 24 to 23? It depends on what your watch is.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think I think I got about 28 something on my watch. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So in in a 5k, which is crazy. What what if you could personify or discuss this course? Uh what comes to mind on the description of how you like to describe it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I think it it starts and ends so fast because you have you start with half a mile on the road. Um, but that half a mile on the road is uphill. Everything is uphill or downhill. There is nothing flat in this race. Um so it's funny, I was looking back at the splits. Um, and I think the men's fastest time from the start to the gate, which is sort of the first road section. Um the fastest time on that, I want to say it's David Norris, um, running 420 gap pace. So fast. It goes out so fast. Yeah, yeah. Um, and that's because it funnels so quickly when you hit the mountain. Um, because you have basically at the bottom, you have a choice of either taking the cliffs, which is sort of a short scramble onto the main trail, or you can take the roots, which is tree roots. Um, it's not routes, it's roots. So you're literally pulling yourself up on tree roots through this short section before you come back onto the main trail. So everyone ends up in the same place. Um traditionally, people take cliffs um because it's supposedly faster, but Ali Max set her course record taking roots. Um so I think there's there's lots of tactics about that of when you get to the bottom of the mountain, and are you gonna get stuck behind people if you go one way or the other? Um, you get through that, and then it's basically it's just straight uphill. Um, it is yeah, you can jog some sections of it, but it's a lot of hands-on-knees, um, all the way to the top. Um quick turnaround, and then you are just hacking. It's just how quickly can you descend scree um without losing skin? Um so a lot of people racing gloves um just to protect the hands from sharp scree. Um, yeah, crazy fast descent, and then you go into what's called the gut. Um, this is sort of how do I describe it? I mean, it's a stream. You're running through a blade, I would say a dry creek, but this year it's definitely wet. Um, there are definitely waterfalls through the creek, through the gut this year, um before you quickly hit a shark left, and then you go back down through the cliffs. So where people scrambled up on the way. Um, it's a down climb back through there. You'll get people jumping off crazy things. Um and then you're back on the road for it's actually longer on the road on the at the very end. Um, and it's sort of what is left in the legs to turn it over into the finish.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh, what a course. So crazy. I I have two questions out of this. When you kind of funnel out of the cliffs or roots, is it can you describe like the level of technicality? Is it more just like a single track kind of lane with like just the steepness is what gets you, or is there any level of technicality on that with on top of what is already extremely steep?
SPEAKER_01Um I wouldn't say it's technical. I'd say um, yeah, where these sort of two options come together, it's probably two yards wide. So it's a good it's a good spot to pass. Um you do end up through an area called the squirrels, which is sort of trees. Um that's pretty tight, pretty impossible to get past people. Um but then when you get above tree line and you're just out on the mountain, it's um you can get past people. I wouldn't say it's technical. I'd say there are lines that the locals know um that are the most direct ones that might not always be obvious if you don't know the mountain really well.
SPEAKER_00So um interesting. And in 2024, when you ran it, did you have was it a snow year? Did you have kind of snow uh kind of in the gut area or on the descent?
SPEAKER_01There was snow on the descent. Um and it was one of those years where there was a bit of snow, not tons of snow. So some people took the snow, some people didn't. Um and I don't think there was a huge difference in time between those, um, depending on how comfortable people were glading or just embracing the slide.
SPEAKER_00Interesting. The reason I bring it up is because off off camera, we were talking about this earlier about descent records and things like that. And Dinali broke the women's descent record in 2018 and that year had it had some snow. So I I'm just curious, like I'm guessing the snow does make it will make it faster in some way, shape, or form.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the snow definitely makes it faster. It's just slightly more direct. Um, if there's snow from the summit, you can take a steeper line. Whereas if there isn't snow from the summit, you've got a bit of an awkward rock section to get through on the downhill. Um, instead of sort of you might see people, or if you've seen pictures of the top of the trail, you'll see a lot of people hook left and then come sort of cut back in where the snow trail would sort of go straight.
SPEAKER_00Interesting. And as a, I mean, I feel like your your moniker is uh you're you're known for being such a good descender. How how I mean, as far as your rating this descent, like what'd you think? One of the best descents on planet Earth? Or was it?
SPEAKER_01Oh, so fun. Yeah. It's so fun. Um, and it's kind of cool because it has a mix of a lot of different things. It has it has snow often. Um, it has this really loose, soft scree, which is almost perfect scree for descending. It's not the type of um, I was up at Minotaur this weekend. It's not that scree that's gonna destroy your shoes. Um, it's much smaller and softer. It'll get in your shoes for sure. Um, but it's pretty soft, and then it'll there are areas that sort of harden up where you've got to know where they are so you don't just stop really quickly and probably sort of take a bit of a tumble. Um, and then you get through the scree and you're in this gut, which is awkward and wet and slippery and muddy. Um, there was a snow bridge in it until about Friday, I think it collapsed, um, which would have been really challenging. Then you have this sort of down climb through the cliffs, and then it's just leg speed on the road. So yeah, the descent has a bit of everything.
SPEAKER_00How nasty is that like? Because I think of uh the cliffs, I mean I've only seen a few pictures, but how nasty is that down climb kind of through there? I'm sure it's wet and slick, and so falling is probably very easy. Uh I'm sure, and you especially for athletes coming down super fast, it's very easy to take a tumble down there. I know uh I believe Eric Straple was literally just telling me that like in his, I think it was the 2013 or 14 race, that's where Ricky Gates and him were in this locked in this epic battle and Ricky fell and dislocated his shoulder there. Um so it's it's pretty crazy. Maybe talk a little bit about like the level of is it I guess comfortability or uncomfortability in there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um I hadn't been able to preview it too many times, so I think I ended up sort of butt scooting down it. I mean, butt scooting quickly, butt sliding. Um because it's probably I don't know, maybe a four or five foot drop if you decide to try and launch off it, um, especially if it's wet and you don't have good sort of traction on it or good grip on it. Um but it's onto gnarly stuff. It's not you wouldn't want to drop it if you didn't have to. Um so yeah, it's definitely one to get good eyes on if you're gonna go and race it.
SPEAKER_00Interesting. How many times like before, I guess when you when you came out there to race this, like did you did you preview and get to see like the as much of the course as you
Descent Hazards Shoes And Mandatory Preview
SPEAKER_00could?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so it's actually a requirement in order to race that you have to have seen the entire course. Um when you pick up your bib, I think you have to assign to say, yes, I've been and previewed the whole course, um, which is really unique and probably a bit of an insurance thing. Um just so that people know what they're getting into. Um the bottom of the course is quite easy to get a lot of time on and preview um and really learn what makes what makes sort of the most sense for you in terms of your style of getting up things quickly.
SPEAKER_00Interesting. Um what shoes did you wear? I mean, I know you're you're now a La Sportiva athlete, so this is a different, you know, kind of a strange question, but what shoes did you wear when you raced it the first time or when you raced it your your time? Like did you go with something a little more like hybridized so you'd have like wheels on the road that had good rubber or like good foam, or something that was gonna have better traction kind of for the ascent and descent or some of the more mediator sections?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm a sucker for a minimal shoe. Um and I actually raced it in the Dinafit Sky DNA, um, which is what I'm trying to think is probably like a four mil drop, doesn't have an insole, super hard, probably a four-mil lug. Um yeah, minimal. Um just because I like the way that that shoe kind of interacts with the ground. Um it's like I'm trying to think the worst possible shoe for that would be like a big, like cushy, I don't know. Just something cushy would be terrible because you want good ground feel. Yeah. Um you need to be able to know what's going on on Doofy.
SPEAKER_00Interesting. Yeah, it's funny. I just tried, uh I think I might have told you this like last week when we talked, but I got a pair because Davide was always wearing the Levantes, so I got myself a pair of the Levantes. Yeah. And I traditionally have been running in like the Prodigio Pros or Prodigios, and uh, dude, I I I guess I'm getting old and just I'm so used to like a really cushioned shoe. I pour the Levantes on like two days in a row and my lower legs were destroyed because it was just such a different it's just a different field, it's a different type of shoe for better technical terrain. And uh, I was just laughing at myself. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm so privy to to like cushioned shoes. I gotta like callus my feet again. It's crazy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. That's interesting. Good thing about the Levante is well, they have a bit of a gator on them. Um a bit of a soft gator.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, so yeah, I I used a gator for Mount Marathon. Just um some people will just tape their shoes. Um just to try and keep rocks out, just to not cut up your feet on the way back.
SPEAKER_00But yes, yeah. No, I think it's a smart way to do it. Keep the rocks out. And yeah, you don't the worst thing would be to get to the bottom and have a rock look literally right on your, you know, on your like midsection of your foot and not being able to like stride out for the terrible. Um all right, so let's shift gears a little
Elite Fields And Qualification Rules
SPEAKER_00bit. We talked a good bit about the course. Thank you for kind of lending some expertise on that. Um, I want to talk a little bit about the fields. I I think I don't think there's a stretch in saying, and I kind of alluded to this earlier, this might be one of the most competitive uh men's and women's fields that we might have ever had at this race. It's crazy. Like you said, Arctarix has is bringing their contingent of athletes between Kyle Richardson, Emica Clark, and others, uh Jesse McCauley, and the women's field just looks uh deep. Um David Norris, potential seven-time champion, uh, is returning, and then you've got Claire uh Rhodes on the other side, you know, uh chasing a third win, which is crazy. What's your kind of take on on some of the storylines and just the the field that's gonna be assembling on July 4th?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, as as you say, I think it's yeah, it's gonna be deep. It's like I was trying to sort of almost pick five, and I was like, oh, but there are about eight that could that could be in this, like whatever, I don't know, top five, top ten. Um yeah, I think the addition of um some of the Arcterics athletes is really interesting. Also um the guys that got in through the Aliaska Cirque race. Um I think David Kennedy and I think maybe Jackson Cole as well qualified in through that race. Um one of the cool things about Mount Marathon is you can see the race rosters online and you can see how people qualified in. So some people get in through the lottery, some people get in through sort of a what what they call a one-time petition. Um, so you can almost say, you know what, I think I can top 10 this race, let me in. Um and a cool thing about Mount Marathon is that you get in for a subsequent year by being top 50 in your age group. Um, and if you're a one-time in petition, you don't get that option. You have to finish in the top 10 in order to get back into the race, um, if that makes sense in a roundabout way. Um so yeah, it's cool to see who's in and how they got into the race.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes. It's very do or die for those petitioners. Um so yeah, it will be interesting. Yeah, lots of faces, lots of new names. Very happy to see on the men's side Kyle Richardson in his first race since joining Rterex. I mean, you've uh he's a you know, he's a friend of the podcast, he's he's a friend of Boulder, you know, he lives in Boulder, so you get to see him a lot. Um I'll have him on tomorrow for a pre-race episode, but in the words that have been exchanged back and forth was this is the strongest I've ever felt and the strongest training block of my life. So I was like, whoa, okay, this is really exciting. Uh and uh Kyle, we've always known as the more be more of an FKT athlete. He's raced a few Cirque Series races, he's raised a few things over the years, but I'd say his primary m indicator of of who he is uh has always been more on the you know on the FKT scene. For those of you don't know, Long's peak FKT holder, uh former FKT holder on the LA freeway. Like uh Kyle is a you know, obviously in records on, I think he still has the descent record on green or hat or has something like that.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, controversial.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes, Kyle and Moss, another Kyle. There's two Kyle.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, we but we won't get into that. That's a long story. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Boulder stuff. Um, but yes, super excited to see Kyle Richardson. Um also very excited to see Jackson Cole, uh fellow teammate of ours. Uh I feel like he's one of the best mountain runners on planet Earth when he's healthy, and just a um just a great Kiwi, great, great human. So excited to see him uh at this race as well for for the first time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think on Kyle, it's sort of what he's saying to you, like this is the fittest he's ever been, the best block he's ever done. Sort of, yeah. I mean, I think Kyle's public Strabo is public. You go poke around like he's training. Um Kyle's been known to just do laps of Green Mountain for years, essentially, until the summer, and then he's out on longs. Um and sometimes he'll go fast and sometimes he'll go easy, but it seems like he's yeah, he's being coached, he's everything's really structured. Um I've seen him up and down green carrying weight. So yeah, he's definitely training, training, um, in a kind of traditional sense, which is cool. Um, yeah, and then as you say, Jackson, um absolute crusher, um, especially on a descent. I think um Jackson really, really has wheels. So it'd be really cool to see see what happens there.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes. Uh, one more thing to Kyle as well. I mean, like you said, you know, people are seeing him out there with his weighted pack and stuff like that. We can only guess that's uh the mad scientist Jack Kenzel whispering in his ear.
SPEAKER_01So he's Yeah, I think it is.
SPEAKER_00He's working with uh one of the better, probably one of the best coaches in the sport right now. And you know, I think that that'll hopefully translate to a great day. Dude, Kyle he's going, you know how I also know he's dialed because I don't know if you follow San Juan Resol on Instagram. They uh were posting about I guess he sent a bunch of like very specific types of Norvans and like different Arcteric shoes uh to to get resold for Mount Marathon because he's he's like that into the weeds on it. So when uh it's very exciting to see um just Kyle take it so seriously. It's it's very cool, very different.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely, yeah. We've been sort of chatting back and forth about different shoes, and um, he was chatting about sort of his options and what he was thinking about taking. So yeah, um he's got some good options.
SPEAKER_00Very cool, very cool. And some other oh I we gotta talk about the women's field. I mean, I'll let you take it away. Unfortunately, and I did confirm this morning Jane Moss will not be in the field, which is a heartbreaker because I feel like Jane uh had a great opportunity to, you know, uh just from her pedigree and who she is as an athlete, great opportunity to perform very well here, if not win the race. Um, but there's I mean it's the the field is still stacked, so yeah, it's a it's a shame that Jane's not lining up.
SPEAKER_01Um I don't know if she's ever raced a VK, um but I'm sure she would absolutely crush. Um so yeah, it's a real shame. Yeah, the women's field is fascinating. Um we've got Claire Rhodes coming back. We also have Ali Ostrander coming back. I mean, she was the champ in 2017. Um, she grew up on this mountain, she has still has junior records. I think she won the junior race I don't know how many times. Um so yeah, it'll be fascinating to see where her climbing and descending legs are. We know that she's gonna have great leg speed on the road. And then you've got sort of the that's got I'm gonna call them the experienced contingent. You've got people like Christy Marvin, um Meg Iconuma, who yeah, they turn up every year, they throw down, they've I don't they're in the top five every year. Um and then you have sort of newer people coming in. We've got Emma Cook Clark coming, who she just had a great race at the there was a Skyrunner um Open VK on Friday um up in Canada, and she obliterated the field as she's been known to do. Um so she's clearly in great uphill shape. So yeah, it feels like it's wide open.
SPEAKER_00It does, it does. Yeah, it's very the women's field is the biggest is a big question mark this year. Whereas like, I don't know, I it's it's very exciting on the men's side to see this new this new batch of men coming in to compete, but David Norris has just been so dominant. Like, like I said, he's chasing his seventh win, knows this, knows, raced some of the best in the world. I've seen him up there against Patrick and Phil Lamon. Like the guy has such a pedigree. And I feel like on the women's side, Claire is chasing her third title and has won and shown her prowess against some of these other women, against some of the best women on the planet. But this is she's gonna have her work cut out for her for this year. I it's gonna be very interesting. And yeah, I mean, Christy Marvin, what a legend. You know, she won her first, won her first race in 2013, and then won her last race in 2023. So just crazy range on her uh to be able to have like that level, uh, to maintain that level for so long or take take a break and kind of come back. And and she's a three-time champion, and she'll be in this race. Denali Strabel, who's the descent uh record holder back from 2018, she's been on the podium uh I think once or twice. And yeah, where does Allie Ostrander kind of fit into the whole thing? That's another thing. Like, how serious is she taking it? She must be very serious if she's there. Um, and this is you know a hometown race for her in a lot of ways, of being from Alaska. So yeah, it's um it's very cool. Um, I'm very excited for this and yeah, should be fun to follow.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely. And I think like there are also, yeah, on the women's side, there are a couple of dark horses in there. People like Sophie Wright, um, who just signed with Last Potiva. Um, she's done this race plenty of times. I think she's she's had top five at this race. So she she knows this hill. Um she knows how to tackle this race. Um yeah, I think she had a she had a good run at um US Mountain Champs, so that'll be cool to see. Um Kendall Kramer as well. She was just 11th at the Broken Arrow Ascent. So people with form coming in. Um, yeah. No, it's gonna be awesome.
SPEAKER_00So we got yeah, we got Sophie, Christy Marvin, Claire. I'm just going through my list of women, Callie Cooper, who was uh second in the Pikes Peak Marathon last year. Meg, dude, I you know, you look at some of these returners from the top five, they're like Alaskan, like I looked into like Meg um Inukuma and Alaskan Mountain Running Hall of Fame already. And she's been a two-time podium finisher in 23 and 24. April McNally, who's had four top ten finishes in this race, she was fifth last year, Shauna Severson, who was sixth last year. Um, yeah, the women's field is just so deep. Like I feel like any of these women could win. So it's gonna be crazy.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I don't know if any of them could win, but I think they can challenge the podium for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes. No, I do agree. Yeah, it's gonna be. I don't know. I'm very curious. I have Claire on tomorrow. Very curious to hear like her breakdown and what she thinks and how she feels. Um the men's side is crazy. So we did talk about Kyle and Jackson and David. David Kennedy, uh, I feel like David Kennedy like slightly, slightly mentioned there. Uh, he was the Mananeuska Peak Challenge winner. That's so uh he qualified from Alaska, but also qualified from 2024 from winning the Mananeuska Peak Challenge, which is an Alaskan race. Um Griffin Briley, just second at Cirque Series Canon a little bit ago. Uh the Olympic schema alternate is in this race. Lars Arn Arneson, and Lars is a perennial contender, uh, three-time podium finisher, Ali Papalan uh and Bodie Gross, who are brothers. Um, both of them two-time um top tens, and Allie was the 2021 junior champ. Um who else do we have? The men's side.
SPEAKER_01We've got Jesse, um, Jesse McCauley, who yeah, won on the men's side that race that Emma Cook Clark just did. Um who, yeah, I mean he's done this race before. I think I want to say he's podiumed this race. Yeah. So he know he knows the hill.
SPEAKER_00He was third in 2024. I could see him doing well again, especially he won the um Meet the Minotaur VK a couple days ago. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So he's had a bit of a him and Emma have had their tune-up on pretty similar to Rain actually.
SPEAKER_00I'm curious to see Michael Earnhardt. He got third last year at Cirque Aliaska. He's had two top finishes at this race. He's a um cross-country skier. He could do very well. And then there's Baden Menchin, who was uh third this past year at the Pikes Peak Marathon. So he's another one kind of in the mix. Um yeah, it's it's uh crazy, crazy field. Are we too early to get into predictions? Anything you else want to cover before we kind of get into it.
SPEAKER_01I'm trying to think. Is there anything else on these on these sort of race lineups? Um David Kennedy just, I think, lowered his FKT on the second flat iron in green.
SPEAKER_00Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01So um, which is yeah, from the lot, it's maybe a mile, just over a mile, up to the base of the second, um, straight up the second and then down pretty gnarly terrain coming back down on that trail. So um his feet are ready for the gut.
SPEAKER_00David Kennedy is a very low-key crusher. He he could do very, very well. And you know what? I think that emotionally too. Um, you know, injured last year, wasn't able to go race the race, and I knew he wanted it very bad to go, and now he's you know back in form. And so to be able to come back after and uh you know kind of throw down. I reached out to him for to do a pre-race and he's like, let's let's do a post-race. So he's gotta be fairly cool. Pretty confident.
SPEAKER_01Nice, nice. I like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um before we get into picks, I'm just gonna throw some randoms out there. Do you think this year the men go under 40? Like, is that possible for this year?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so the men's record is so it's a 4037, right?
SPEAKER_00Yes.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Set in 22, something like that, 2018 or 2013. Something like that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um it's shaping up to be maybe not a snow year. Um so the descent might not be as fast, but I think for the I mean, the descent can only go so fast. It's gonna be what? Around 10 minutes for the men, around 11 and a half minutes for the women at the very sharp end of the race. Um so yeah, I think it's can somebody maybe people sort of push each other to crazy fast times on the ascent, um, and that brings it under 40. We'll see.
SPEAKER_00I feel like one of these years, I just literally just asked Eric about the Eric Strabel about this former record holder. And I was like, Do you think he's like, I'm not the liberty to to predict? And I was like, oh, okay, okay, okay. So I was like, man, it would be and David said the same, David said something similar, David Norris, where he's like, if it was gonna happen, I feel like it would have happened last year. Because he's like going into worlds, that's the fittest I'd ever felt. And uh, you know, especially coming off, I think he had just come off Broken Arrow, just came off Son of P. So he's like, I feel like that was the year, but who knows? I think he's gonna be seriously challenged this year. I think it's gonna be very um like, especially with a very strong Jesse McCauley, a very strong Jackson, and someone like Kyle uh will push him. And I think that'll be a little bit different than in maybe previous years, where it's maybe just been Max kind of pressing and maybe a few others. So this is gonna be, I think, a tighter race than we've seen probably in previous years, but who's to say? And I think the same thing for the women. Like uh Emma Co Clark is such a good climber that Claire's gonna mind her P's and Q's uh because uh Emma could very well get a gap in early on in the race. We'll see.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think, yeah, I think you're right. I think I mean I would love to see a drag race on the road at the end. Um, and everything's live streamed, which is great. Um yeah, I think on the women's side it's gonna be really interesting who's got the leg speed on the road, who climbs the fastest, who's willing to just really send it. Um, and then yeah, who has the wheels at the end.
SPEAKER_00Um Yeah, it's it's a different, you gotta have all the skills. This is one of those ones where you can't be really lacking in anything. You have to have all the abilities, or else it's gonna be uh you know, gonna be a tough day. So
Picks Records And Who Breaks Away
SPEAKER_00yeah. All right, let's I think uh let's dive into the women's field and go for picks. I'll let you kind of take it away.
SPEAKER_01Okay. How how deep are we going?
SPEAKER_00We could do five or three. It's up to you.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Let's go five because then we have more options. Um I think I have Meg in Akuma in fifth. I have oh, this is tricky. I think I have Chrissy Marvin in fourth. And then I have a combination of Claire, Emma, and Allie in my top three. And I think I'm I think I might go. I think I go Claire. I think she repeats.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um I like that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I I think there's, and maybe you can agree to this. I don't know. You tell me what your thoughts are. Is there is maybe there's this extra added like pressure to already being a two-time champion, but also I feel like there's this extra layer of confidence knowing you've already won and been in tight positions before on like difficult positions on this course that you know, because Emma Clark, I feel like was coming off a little bit of an injury, correct?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think she's just been dealing with a bit of illness.
SPEAKER_00Um not injury, illness.
SPEAKER_01That yeah, yeah. But I mean, she threw down last weekend, so she's definitely fit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01She's fit, she's always fit. She's so strong. Yeah. She's strong.
SPEAKER_00All right. I am gonna go. I'm gonna go fifth place, Sophie Wright. I'm gonna go fourth, Christy Marvin. I'm gonna go third. Ooh, this is hard. Um scratch that.
SPEAKER_01This is why I dodged. This is why I this is why I dodged my top three.
SPEAKER_00Well, how about this? I'm gonna go with my winner. I'm gonna go Emica Clark as the champion for this year. I'm gonna I'm gonna call the upset Emica Clark. I think Claren second. I'm gonna go third. I'm gonna say Christy Marvin, fourth, Meg, and fifth, Sophie Wright. And uh I just don't know where Ali Ostrander kind of fits into the mix because Allie Ostrander has the ability to win this race as well. I I'll be honest, and this is my blind spot before not checking. I did not peep her Strava at all in the lead up to this, or else I'd have a better idea for that prediction. But um Yeah, that's fair.
SPEAKER_01She's definitely in Alaska.
SPEAKER_00She is in Alaska. All right. So she has the ability to win, so we'll see. But I I feel like I so I'm very long on Sophie Wright. I'm very excited for her. I feel like there's a lot of confidence now, having just signed with Sportiva. I just talked to her yesterday, she's in a very good place. Training looks good. She had a great result at Sunopee. No reason why she shouldn't be able to get herself, if not in the top 10, definitely top five, somewhere in that range. Um Chrissy Marvin.
SPEAKER_01Don't quote me on this. Oh, sorry. Yeah, I think Sophie might be coached by David Norris.
SPEAKER_00She is. She is.
SPEAKER_01Okay, okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So she's learned a few things. And I feel like some of that stuff in David showed before, if you're really good at the Mount Marathon techie stuff, like that kind of translated for her him at Sunape. And I feel like it translated for her as well. She she did have a much better result, Sunopee this year versus 2025. So I that's kind of the only thing I'll be looking at, or I was looking at kind of going into this, just because she hasn't raced a ton. Um, yeah. Yo, Chrissy Marvin, though, like just a just a contender. She's so inspiring. Um, so she's someone I look to as well. And then obviously, I I'm confident in Emma Ca Clark's climbing. I I would like to see where she's at on the descent. And as for Claire, it's hard to say. I it's it's that's gonna I think it's gonna be a very close race. Very, very close race.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, for sure. No, it's so hard to pick this top five. And I mean it's hard to pick a top ten of these women.
SPEAKER_00You're better than I am, like you're always good at like free trail. Oh, depends.
SPEAKER_01Depends.
SPEAKER_00It's terrible. Um okay, all right. That's oh, any records? Do you think uh women's records go down? I think it's gonna be a slower year, obviously, because of no snow. Um do you think someone will take a stab at anything?
SPEAKER_01Or yeah, I it's not sort of I don't think they log it on the official Mount Marathon website. Um, but I can see the ascent record going down on the women's side. Um I think as you say, Emma is climbing so well, she's so strong. Um yeah, I think there's potential for the ascent to go down. I I don't think the descent records will go down, but I would love to be proven wrong.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I can jam with that. That's fine with me. Um yeah. It's just you know what? So one thing I'm bummed about uh not having Jane in this race, and obviously that's probably the the extent I'll go into it. Jane, I think, would have changed the dynamic of this race a little bit more. It would have been fun to have her in there. So she is definitely miss. She's gotta go next year. I'm gonna tell her. Yeah, for sure. All right, moving on to the men. Let's go five deep. I'll let you take it away for for your thoughts.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Um this one's really tricky. Um, I'm gonna go from the top. I think David wins this race, David Norris. Um, I think he defends, I think he's I don't know what kind of shape he's in, but I'm guessing it's good. Um and yeah, he just knows his hill. Um, I think second, I would go Kyle Richardson, I think Jackson in third, um David Kennedy in fourth, and then Jesse in fifth. But maybe those last two switched.
SPEAKER_00I like that. That's a good one. We're very similar. I've got I have David defending, getting title number seven. I in his Strava just looks the same, it kind of always does. It's just a bunch of mountain biking and a bunch of easy running and you know a few threshold workouts in there. And it's hard. I know he's coached by um David uh Roche, so I'm sure there's some stuff in there that we might not see on Strava, but yeah, I um definitely definitely think David's fit. Uh same thing. I think Kyle Richardson's gonna have a great day. I really do. I the only thing I think I think the preparation is all there. I think the confidence will be there. I the only question mark I have is um how does Kyle race? Because we've never seen him race. Does he get nerves? Does he does he get nervous for the stuff or does it bother him? We'll we're gonna find out. Um because FKTs are different, you know, it's a different kind of thing. We're on your own time. Um, but Kyle's Kyle's a gamer. Kyle's a stud. So I I I do have him in second place. I'm gonna go Jackson in third as well. The only reason I don't have Jackson in second is because and he's been vocal about this. He he put this out on social media, was struggling. That's why he wasn't at Broken Arrow, was struggling with a little bit of a soulist thing, tried to find his form last week, which he did at Mount at uh Minotaur with a third place finish. So how will that feel on a much punchier, faster, shorter course? I'm sure he'll be fine. So he could very well, you know, definitely get on the podium. In fourth, I'm gonna do Griffin Briley. Um in fifth, fifth for me is either David Kennedy or Jesse McCauley. I have kind of like a mix. I feel like David is definitely primed to do really well. Uh Griffin's descending. Griffin uh really impressed me with uh his descent at Cirque Series canon. Like that was a very, very fast descent. And you've seen him uh when you did the Alta course preview and stuff. Yeah, that dude can run downhill really, really well. And he's he's a fantastic athlete.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, he grew up in the Wasach, so he knows how to get up and downhills. Um and yeah, he's he's crazy fit. So yeah, excited to see what Griff can do.
SPEAKER_00The only other person that kind of intrigues me as well that I did not mention is Jarrett Gillingham, uh trail team athlete. He um he's a very good climber, very, very good climber. Like somewhere, I think he was in the mix of like top 15, top 11 somewhere at the broken arrow scent. Um could very well see that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and he's done this race before.
SPEAKER_00Yes, last year. Yeah. So now he's got a little uh you know, just experience at the race, that could that could mean something. Um yeah, so I think it's that's all good there. So and as far as uh I think we could see a course record, I don't it's hard to say. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think it's it's possible. I'm not sure what the men's ascent time is. Um I should have done some Strava segments talking on that. Um but I'm I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure David's ascent time is like just wild. Um don't quote me on it, but it might be like a full minute faster than the person behind him, but that could be wrong.
SPEAKER_00And the fact that he does it like run hiking, like this his hike is so strong. Like that's the crazy part. Like, how do you get that level of strength?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. One thing that I think that isn't in Griffin's favor is there are no poles allowed at this race. Yes. Um and Griffin, Griffin is a schemo guy. Um I feel like when Griff hikes even without poles, it's almost like he's got poles in his hands. So yeah. That could be different for yeah, that could be different for him. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, he I don't I reached out for comment, didn't get anything back. He's very like KG Onstrava, doesn't post a lot, obviously doesn't post a lot on social media in general. Um I was very curious, like where where his things are going in because Cirque series canon was a great race for him. Uh Remy beat him pretty, pretty handily, but he did beat the rest of the course pretty well. Not that there was a ton of competition there, but he had a I'd say his descent was very strong. Um broken arrow, he did not have a great race. So I don't know, and that's just objective, but like it's I don't know. This might suit him better than something like a broken arrow, which is a different, different type of course. So we shall see.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, it's gonna be great. It'll be really fun to see how it all shakes up.
Race-Day Timing Livestream And Wrap
SPEAKER_00Yes, super exciting. Any any closing thoughts? Anything that you uh you want to get to? You don't think we've got to?
SPEAKER_01Um I don't know. I think there I can see there being a drag race on the women's side down the road. Um I can see people trying to go out hard on the road and then trying to close hard on the road. Um yeah, it's just it's gonna be great to watch. Um the women are gonna go, yeah, as we said earlier, the women are gonna go second. So it's it'll be slightly warmer in the day, but they've also sort of been out there almost by watching the men go, you you get to sort of shake some of your nerves because you're like, okay, these guys done it. It's gonna be fine. Um so yeah, um maybe harder for the men, but we'll see.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. The energy, I mean, one thing we can't discount is the energy is gonna be high, so it's gonna be crazy. I I often wonder, and maybe I I might have asked you this before on like a previous podcast, but like, do you like going second better than going first? Like, do you I because I'm a morning guy. I would like to I would prefer to just get it out of the way first thing in the morning and have to wait till two in the afternoon. But everybody's different.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, yeah, the men's race doesn't go until 11, I think. I want to say the men's is at eleven and the women's is at two. So even for the men, it's not that early. Um you still have you sort of you don't have to do the 4 a.m. wake up to I don't know, buy carbon, Nomeo or whatever you're doing these days. Yeah.
unknownStacking.
SPEAKER_01It's like yeah, it's like quite a it's more of a chill morning, um, which is quite nice. Um yeah, I don't really mind the time of day. You just sort of shift your eating schedule and yeah.
SPEAKER_00Interesting. Oh, it's gonna be a fun one. I will be tuning in, I think everybody will, to the uh to the live stream. Should be a good one. And uh yeah, that's all I got. Meg, thank you so much. This was a fun one. And uh yeah, I think the audience is gonna get a ton out of it, and I think this is uh this was a fun one. So appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, always fun to chat racing. Thanks very much, James.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you. Appreciate it.
