By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Runners competing in the annual Alpine Adventure Run Saturday faced dense cloud cover in the alpine high country of Gavan Hill and Harbor Mountain.
Charles Horan, right, and Aaron Prussian mug for the camera as they run along the Gavan Hill ridge Saturday morning during the Alpine Adventure Run. The race starts at St. Gregory’s Catholic Church, goes up Gavan Hill then follows the ridgeline to Harbor Mountain and concludes at the picnic shelter on the Harbor Mountain road, nearly seven miles from the start line. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
Leading the pack by more than a 3-minute margin, Chris Brenk was the first to finish at the Harbor Mountain shelter in just 1:08:10. Though he’s an experienced distance runner, Saturday was Brenk’s first time competing in the Alpine Adventure Run, which this year drew 96 runners, including 26 competitors from outside of Sitka.
Originally from Minnesota, Brenk has been in Sitka since last summer, working as a Jesuit volunteer at Youth Advocates of Sitka and the Cloud youth center.
He’s trained on the high country route previously, but Brenk said after the race that he wasn’t certain what to expect in the race itself.
“Sitka has definitely taught me to dive into the world of trail and mountain running more. But still, it’s a new stimulus. I’ve never done a trail race before. And yeah, I didn’t really have expectations. The only thing I knew was that last year’s winner was 72 minutes and that it would hurt on those wooden stairs going up.”
The course begins at St. Gregory’s Catholic Church on Lincoln Street and proceeds to the base of Gavan Hill on the Cross Trail and then up about 2,000 vertical feet to the ridge. Much of the ascent occurs on old wooden staircases, some of which are falling to pieces after years of hard use and exposure to the elements.
The race follows the ridgeline to Harbor Mountain and concludes at the picnic shelter on the Harbor Mountain road, nearly seven miles from the start line. Once atop the ridge, the trail traverses a series of smaller hills before passing beneath Harbor Mountain and connecting with the Forest Service road there. From start to finish the course rises more than 3,000 vertical feet.
Brenk, a tall and thin former collegiate runner, said “I definitely have more endurance rather than strength.”
“The ascent went by quickly, kind of like a dream. I just pummeled away, just tried to run as much as I could – hands on the thighs on the stairs. Never done that before. But it just went by real quick, and the toughest portion is the shorter hills after you hit the ridge,” he said.
The ridge to Harbor Mountain, bordered by fields of wildflowers and offering occasional glimpses of valleys below the clouds, “is one of the most beautiful sections ever and I just had a blast,” he said.
While his position at YAS is ending in two weeks, Brenk plans to remain in Sitka.
“I hadn’t been to Alaska prior to moving up, but it’s just been so cool, like all the small town community things, running and not running related. I just love the community... I’m really happy to be here,” he said.
Taking first place in the women’s race, Sitkan Anna Laffrey finished first in 1:29:39 and ran much of the course alongside friends.
“Running with friends, both my roommates and some of my best friends were with me the whole time… Very neighborly, and we live here, so we run a lot,” Laffrey said after completing the race. She was familiar with the course, and got ready for the race by resting the week before.
“You can kind of exhaust yourself on the ascent and recover, because we know the hill and we know the ridge and can harness the flat parts and the downhills and take the corners fast and just have a really good time on top,” Laffrey said. “So I was going irresponsibly fast the whole way. And I had a great friend Emily (Pound), who was with me most of the time.”
Laffrey spends lots of time outdoors, and credited much of her fitness to her outdoors lifestyle.
“I’ve been strength training, pulling up halibut skates, and swimming. And I feel like living on the land prepares you to do it. It’s good to be a local. I’m really grateful to live here. Because I don’t think I’d feel good if I didn’t know the hill,” she said. “I’m just really humbled up there seeing the cliff next to me. It’s really amazing that our bodies could do this.”
Laffrey ran competitively in high school and competed in marathons in college.
She said she believed it’s appropriate to acknowledge the history of the land where the race is run.
“We’re on Sheet’ka Kwaan lands,” she said. “And this is a place where people must have gathered food and lived with the mountain for thousands of years. And I appreciate the blessing at the beginning. I think land acknowledgment would be more appropriate.”
The second woman to complete the course was Emily Routon, who won the 2021 women’s race. She was just a few seconds behind Laffrey on Saturday, finishing in 1:30:12.
Running beside Laffrey for much of the race, Emily Pound was happy for the company on the course.
“It’s more fun to run with a friend than alone. I was very grateful for Anna on the run… We pushed and pulled each other up the hill and she crushed it in the end,” said Pound, who finished in 1:32:14.
Last year’s first-place finisher, Devon Calvin, took second this year in 1:11:27 – more than a minute faster than his previous winning time.
He described the experience as “euphoric.”
“I think my motivation was to try something that’s very difficult and be able to tolerate discomfort, just trying to exhaust yourself going up Gavan with the understanding that once you get the ridge, it’s a lot less strenuous… I felt quite euphoric. We’re on beautiful Tlingit land. The clouds were shifting around. I just feel very, very grateful,” Calvin said.
This year’s alpine run was Shawn Hutchinson’s first. He aimed to complete the course in under two hours and finished in 1:58:36.
“It was beautiful out there. It was different. You feel like you’re in a movie and all you need is just seeing it on a big screen. It was so beautiful up there. It’s majestic,” Hutchinson said.
Originally from Jamaica, he has lived in Sitka 10 years and is a sous chef at SEARHC. He plans to continue training for next year’s race.
“I feel like I would do it again next year, definitely. More training, definitely. More mental focus makes you stronger mentally, anything you make your mind up to do, you can do. You only have to maintain focus… It’s amazing. I would recommend anybody to do it,” he said.
Ryan Wilson, who crossed the finish line in 65th place after 1:50:34, said he’s aiming to improve his time on the ridge next year.
“I’m going to try to increase my speed on that flat running, I did a lot better on the speed hiking up Gavan,” he said.
Connor Hitchcock, a rising sophomore at Sitka High, said the race was a chance to train for the upcoming cross country season.
“Going up, I was hurting a lot,” he said. “And I was fast climbing on the stairs a lot to save my energy for the ridge. And then I felt super good. Felt fast and good… I knew it was going to be hard. I was thinking of it as a race, like preseason cross country. And I haven’t done summer training before, so I just kind of used it as something to build up to in my summer training.” Though he’d never run the race before, he finished 14th in 1:21:59.
While the winning time this year was about 4 minutes faster than last year’s, the men’s and women’s course records still stand. For women, it’s 1:18:11, set by Sitka’s Tasha Folsom in 2014; for men, it’s Sam Scotchmer’s 2013 time of 1:04:03.
The Forest Service plans to reroute the Gavan Hill trail in the coming years, so the records may be the last for the trail as it now exists.
“It’s going to be longer and the climb is definitely going to be more gradual,” event organizer Chris Horan said. The old and the new “would be two different events,” she said.
Saturday marked the 29th running of the Alpine Adventure Run.
All told, 96 runners competed in the event – the largest group ever to participate. Previous races were capped at 85 participants. All crossed the finish line successfully, Horan said.
Horan appreciated support from several organizations, including the Sitka Mountain Rescue team, which manned water stations along the route and stood ready in case of emergency.
A crowd was waiting at the top of Harbor Mountain to cheer the runners as they crossed the finish line. Photos of the race will be posted to the Alpine Adventure Run Facebook page, Horan said.
“I think people felt more comfortable with being out and about in the open space,” she said. “And so definitely there was, to me, more of a community feel to the event. So I was happy about that.”
Full race results are below.
Brenk, Christopher 1:08:10
Calvin, Devon 1:11:27
Priest, Cody/Anchorage, 1:11:29
Devine, Ryan/Deerfield, New Hampshire 1:14:00
Wilcox, David 1:16:21
Scotchmer, Sam 1:17:08
Goudeau, Geof 1:17:28
Chevalier, Josh 1:18:17
House, Lee 1:18:40
Routon, Aaron 1:19:20
DeLong, Jed 1:20:04
McGraw, Christopher 1:20:28
Kennedy, Garland 1:21:15
Hitchcock, Connor 1:21:59
Moran, Cody 1:22:36
Hughey, Ben 1:24:04
Grutter, Ivan 1:24:29
Tobia, Matt/Salt Lake City, Utah 1:27:53
Schoening, Trevor/Fairbanks, 1:28:09
Evans, Logan 1:28:15
Millado, Matt 1:28:39
Catterson, Matt/Douglas, 1:28:46
Yates, Max 1:29:17
Olesek, Brooks 1:29:34
Laffrey, Anna 1:29:39
Routon, Emily 1:30:12
Brantman, Jesse/Jacksonville, Florida 1:30:37
Pound, Emily 1:32:14
Eyster, Artemis/Durango, Colorado 1:32:20
Welling, Robin 1:33:16
Graham, Mariah/Anchorage, 1:34:24
Holland, Jessica 1:35:31
Viechnicki, Joe/Petersburg, 1:35:35
Eccher, Franklin 1:35:54
Vargas, Kevin 1:37:08
Miller, Kamie/Eagle River, 1:38:58
Metzger, Jacob 1:38:59
Yore-VanOosterhout, Aaron/Holland, Michigan 1:39:21
Lopez, Katie/Ann Arbor, Michigan 1:39:37
Schinke, Mike 1:39:46
Paustian, Kari/Gold Bar, Washington 1:40:39
MacIntyre, Carolyn 1:40:51
Klejka, Jennifer 1:40:57
Duclos, Nicole 1:41:04
Weiland, Peter 1:41:16
McGinnis, Jackson 1:41:49
Mongiovi, Missy 1:41:57
Haas, Michael 1:42:08
Prussian, KK 1:42:49
Bethune, Stephen 1:43:06
Sattler, Natalie/Steamboat Springs, Colorado 1:43:14
Weese, Dakota 1:43:20
Richards, Meredyth/Eagle River, 1:43:40
Bakkes, Francois 1:44:15
Priest, Connor/Anchorage, 1:45:18
Lovelace, Jake/Haines, 1:45:39
Tirman, Kristina 1:45:49
Lo Re, Ellie 1:47:12
O’Hanlon, Kevan 1:47:35
Matula, Sarah/Douglas, 1:48:48
Calvin, Andrea 1:48:52
Beam, Jessika 1:49:10
Virnig, Sarah/Anchorage 1:49:22
Priest, Justin 1:50:11
Wilson, Ryan 1:50:34
Hitchcock, Bridget 1:51:12
Jones, Jordan/Seward, Alaska 1:51:42
Stack, Maia 1:52:10
Lundergan, Lucy/Haines, 1:52:40
Scotchmer, Kristin 1:54:08
Wagner, Justine/Juneau, 1:55:47
Wilcox, Brett 1:57:01
Roseman, Andrew 1:57:55
Jacobs, David 1:57:58
Hutchinson, Shawn 1:58:36
Licari, Dave/Columbus, Nebraska 1:59:47
Verbaan, Lois 2:00:04
Carson, Marissa 2:00:31
Perensovich, Gary 2:00:59
Roy, Anna 2:01:22
Antonio, Lisa 2:02:52
Lopiiano Mischa 2:05:26
Horan, Charles 2:07:03
Prussian, Aaron 2:07:03
Evans, Annette 2:14:35
Chiles, Sarah/Baton Rouge, Louisiana 2:14:54
Flinn, Brandi 2:19:09
Powers, Izabella 2:19:58
Knox, Erika 2:20:57
Seavey, Jamilee 2:21:07
Seavey, Mark 2:21:07
Estrada, Eric 2:21:43
Magbanua, Glenn 2:23:36
Aitken, Sherry/Juneau, 2:23:56
Brown, Penny 2:24:48
Youngberg, Erika/Payson, Utah 2:31:30
