By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Though the threat of the coronavirus canceled athletic activities around the world, a modified, virtual Alpine Adventure Run still drew a number of Sitkans of all ages to run and hike the Gavan Hill Trail, from July 19 through the end of September.
Event organizer Chris Horan told the Sentinel that the new format allowed many locals who would not normally enter the race to participate.
“A lot of people look at this event, and there is no way they would ever be able to run it and make the time limit of two and a half hours. All these parameters were down this year. Anyone could participate, and so it opened it to the 70- and 80-year-olds taking part, and taking as long as they did and making it fun,” Horan said.
“Team Bill” completed the course in a bit over six hours. The two Bills were Bill Foster and Bill Hughes, average age 80.
With the time limit stripped away this year, one group of hikers completed the event in seven hours. The average age was 70 years old, Horan said. The hikers were Jeff Budd, Bob Hunter, Don Muller, Charlie Morgan, and Brenda Campen.
Horan added that families participated with their children as well. In a year without a global pandemic, the minimum age for the run is 15.
“There were several families that participated together. And some of those were ones where the parents were runners, but they chose to hike with their families instead,” she said.
On the younger end of the spectrum, Phin and Will Edwards, aged 10 and 8 respectively, completed the race with their parents Valerie and Brent in about five and a half hours in August.
Kids from the Prussian and Hitchcock families hiked the seven-mile route, with about 2,000 feet of vertical climbing as well. Connor and Lola Hitchcock, 13 and 9 years old, completed the course along with Anna and Calder Prussian, 15 and 13.
Horan said the quantity of family hiking groups surprised her.
“I had far more family hikers than I ever dreamed that I would have. I thought that I would have more runner participation, but in the end the hiker course, this is something that is not normal, it was the first time any hiker was allowed in the event,” she said.
A toddler, Finn Folsom, made it up Gavan Hill as well, carried by Tasha Folsom. Lisa and Levi Hodges hiked in the group and completed the course in just under four hours.
Though the hiking component of the event was new, a number of Sitkans ran the race as usual.
Nicole Duclos was the quickest runner, finishing in 1:48:13 on August 31. Irbert Vega was the second fastest at 1:51 flat five days later. Grant Roberts ran the race in 1:57 flat, with Charles Horan at 1:59:47 and Gary Perensovich at 2:08 even.
Josh Wynne and Bohlman Pierce ran together and finished in 2:10:02 on September 5. Ryan Wilson finished in 2:18 even.
Rose Horan and Margaret Burgess ran together on July 19, the usual date of the race, and finished in 2:31 flat, followed two minutes later by Jillian Hayden. On the same day, Therese Horan, Jake Hjorten, and Charles Horan also ran the course.
Looking back, Chris Horan said that the virtual Alpine Run showed Sitka’s resilience.
“We’re resilient, and I think that we definitely want something to look forward to. For a lot of people, having this slight burst of time to get out there, three and half months, gave them something to look forward to. And we all need that right now,” she said.
She stood by her choice to cancel the official race, originally scheduled for July 19.
“It was the best decision not to postpone, it needed to be canceled. So that when I went into it, I had not even thought of doing a virtual run. But people needed something to look forward to plain and simple,” she said.
Horan was happy with how the virtual race went in the end.
“I feel good about it. There’s no other way this should have happened,” she said. She plans to hold the Alpine Adventure Run as normal in July, 2021.
