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Mount Roberts trail challenge race marks 40 years
- Klas Stolpe
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
One of the youngest runners tackles one of Juneau’s oldest races
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
One of Juneau’s youngest athletes took on the course that has thwarted Juneau runners for four decades as a field of 15 racers took part in Saturday’s 40th annual Goldbelt Tram-Mount Roberts Trail Run.
“I like hiking stuff,” eight-year-old Isla Taintor said. “And being outside.”
In a series of questions, Isla answered, “the mountain was fun… I hiked Gastineau last week and will hike Thunder Mountain next week… I like Mt. Roberts the best and have done it quite a few times — and I might do track when I get in high school, I don’t know.”
Taintor, who finished the course in a few minutes over an hour, was the top runner under the age of 18.
Abe Kanter, 32, was the top finisher, touching the cross in 38 minutes and 37 seconds with Matt Calahan chasing at 38:57.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Kanter said of the roots, rocks and mud - all made even trickier by the incline and the spotty rain. “There were a lot of puddles of water, but the trail otherwise was in good shape.”
Kanter said he trains on the trail once or twice a month.
“I have done it enough to know where the flat sections are,” he said. “And know when the stepper sections are. This is my first year doing the race. I have only been in Juneau since last October. But it was really fun. I was just trying to hold off Matt, and I didn’t think I was going to. He said he has done it faster in the past and I definitely could not have matched that.”
Top female finisher, and eighth overall, was Cecile Elliott, 61, in 53:13.
“I haven’t done this race since Hilary Lindh (McCutcheon) did it,” Elliott said. “It was a long time ago and I only remember because I passed her. The only time you could ever say that. I honestly don’t know how long ago that was, and it was the old course. Not all the way from the tram, it was from Foggy Mountain. Maybe 30 years ago? I don’t know.
Third place overall went to Ian Novak, 25, in 41:37. Daren Tingey, 21 was fourth in 42:50; Gregory Brown, 43, fifth in 44:00; Peter Flynn, 43, sixth in 45:34; and Stephen Schmitz, 65, seventh in 48:44.
Schmitz first ran the race in 1988.
“It used to be the old course, they didn’t have a trail as defined,” Schmitz said. “They had a trail that came straight up this way. But I like going uphill. I am pretty good at that. I am a lot slower now though. It is a lot harder. It used to be somewhat easy, now it is difficult.”
The first official race, then called the Mount Roberts Trail Challenge Run, was held in 1986. That old route started in the middle of downtown but turned onto the trailhead at the top of 6th Street, then up to the tree line and to the wooden cross 2,000 feet above the start, in a more direct manner.
Callahan was running his second edition of the race.
“I did it like eight to ten years ago,” he said. “I got second then too. I was three minutes faster then. I like uphill racing, you don’t have to run down and you can hang out at the top.”
David Phillips, 45, placed ninth in 54:36; Christine Woll, 41, was the second female, and 10th overall, in 54:59. Danielle Dunivin, 36, was third female and 11th overall in 55:10; Liz Brooks, 42, 12th in 1:03:44; Jennifer Strumfeld, 58, 13th in 1:06:12; Holly Handler, 52, 14th in 1:06:13; and Taintor, 8, out-touching her pacer, father Matt Taintor, in 1:08:09.
“It is great, I am really proud of her,” M. Taintor, 46, said. “It is a good family activity. We appreciate the Juneau Trail and Road Runners putting on these sorts of events.”
Glenn Frick won the 1986 inaugural race in 31:07 and Nancy Pease was second, and the first female, in 31:53. 14 athletes ran. In finishing order they included Frick, Pease, Andrew Grossman 31:53, Ben Van Alen 33:16, Marc Livingston 35:40, John Neary 35:43, Greg Beck 35:44, Betsy Flood 36:04, Jim Douglas 36:18, Susie Norvell 43:16, Ernie Prickett 43:20, Dawn Rider 45:54, Jack Smith 58:09 and Bob Ferrell 58:41.
Top participant years included 72 in 1990, 56 in 2017 and 2018, 50 in 2016, 49 in 2013, 47 in 1989 and 2020, 48 in 2019. According to past record, in 1999 Colleen Gordon was the only participant and hit 38:09.
TOP 3 RACERS PER YEAR (all years were not found)
1989: Male - Steven Schmitz 26:38, Kelly Miller 28:03, Glenn Frick 29:27. Female - Shelly James 33:47, Joann Quigg 36:37, Glenda Hickey 39:53.
1990: M - Ben Van Alen 29:20, Rick Thibodeau 29:58, Schmitz 29:59. FM - James 35:17, Betsy Fischer 38:38, Dawn Rider 42:46.
1991: M - Schmitz 27:54, Van Alen 30:26, John McConnochie 30:36. FM - Fischer 39:03, Joanie James 48:09, Sarah Fischer 49:24.
2000: M - John Bursell 31:49, Don Eagle 32:26, Glenn Frick 33:21. FM - Maria Eley 38:28; Breea Mearig 41:24, Tara Jones 42:49.
2001: M - John Bursell 28:19, Dave Pusich 29:10, Don Eagle 29:49. FM - Janeann Twelker 39:08, Jamie Bursell 44:10, Eva Small 46:17.
2002: M - John Bursell 32:52, Don Eagle 34:06, George Johnson 35:47. FM - Lia Ossiander 41:01, Sarah Carter 41:15, Janeann Twelker 42:33.
2003: M - Dave Pusich 32:30, John Bursell 32:42, Jason Pinger 34:54. FM - Breea Mearig 41:24, Janeann Twelker 42:16, Emily Adoma 43:09.
2004: M - John Bursell, 32:12, George Johnson, 34:12, Eran Hood, 34:40. FM - Julie Patnode, 40:56, Amanda Thompson, 42:11, Susie Burger,:44:02
2005: M - John Bursell, 31:34, Gabe Hayden, 36:38, Tyler Dann, 38:11, Nick Foster, 38:11. FM - Joann Quigg, 41:16, Janeann Twelker, 41:43, Molly Krehlik, 43:47
2006: M - John Bursell, 30:32, Robert Sowers, 32:57, Dave Pusich, 33:12. FM - Breea Mearig, 44:12, Laura Baker, 46:09, Samantha Langlois, 50:20
2007: M - Keith Larsen, 35:21, Geoff, Roes, 35:21, Greg Frank, 37:15. FM - Janeann Twelker, 41:28, Breea Mearig, 45:01, Colleen Jardell, 47:34
2008: M - Geoff Roes, 32:54, Dewey Peacock, 33:26, David Lesh, 36:30. FM - Janeann Twelker, 44:12, Jamie Bursell, 47:21,. Anne Johnson, 48:23
2009: M - Scott May, 40:59, Andrzej Piotrowski,:42:10, Ky Clark, 43:34. Female: Abby Lowell, 37:56, Colleen Jardell, 48:59, Jill Homer, 50:31
2010: M - Tristan Knutson-Lombardo, 35:40, Kevin Sellers, 38:40, John Nagel, 39:36. FM - Janeann Twelker, 47:05, Julia Taylor,:49:08, Shannon Williams, 54:06
2011: M - Houston Laws, 35:07, Jeff Harrington, 37:32, Ted Helvoigt, 37:56. FM - Melanie Fairbanks, 43:51, Janeann Twelker, 45:45, Janell Haffner, 46:35
2012: M - Houston Laws, 36:48, Hiram Henry, 38:56, Ian Andrews, 39:16. FM - Karlynn Welling, 46:20, Amy Wright, 46:23, Janell Haffner, 46:49
2013: M - Allan Spangler, 33:56, Riley Moser, 36:21, Gabe Wechter, 37:02. FM - Laura Fox, 41:19, Hilary Young, 42:59, Melissa Prechtl, 46:13
2014: M - Jeffrey Early, 36:35, Steven Schmitz, 40:46, Jim Ustasiewski, 41:06. FM - Melanie Fairbanks,:43:49, Cecille Elliott, 47:18, Shannon Cabrero, 49:37
2015: Male -- Geoff Roes, 36:22, Scott Watts, 37:17, Bryan Hitchcock, 38:56. FM - Heidi Brook, 43:20, Aspen Daigle,:50:25, Pauline Strong, 50:46
2016: M - Hiram Henry, 35:14, Nathaniel Herz, 35:33, Geoff Roes, 38:5. FM - Alyssa Shaw, 38:55, Suzie Pothier, 49:56, Liz Brooks, 50:47,
2017: M - Joshua Musson, 31:38, Matt Callahan, 36:06, John Bursell, 37:59. FM - Amie Spieth, 43:22, Jordan Callahan,:44:39, Sophie Shaddy-Farnsworth, 48:40
2018: M - Allan Spangler, 32:03, Seth Rutt, 33:59, Bryan Hitchcock, 37:52. Female: Cindy Tuckwood, 44:27, Devin Tatro, 44:55, Skylar Tuckwood, 46:39
2019: M - Allan Spangler, 31:36, Owen Hatcher, 34:00, Shawn Miller, 34:27. FM - Sadie Tuckwood, 38:42, Naomi Staley, 39:52, Emma Hatcher, 40:54
2020: M - Dylan Anthony, 24:05, Kaleb Korta, 25:03, Zack Bursell, 26:00. FM - Christy Gentemann, 27:38, Tracy Morrison, 35:46, Breea Mearig, 36:50
2021: M - Quinn Tracy, 34:47, Dylan Proudfoot, 35:27, Brandon Shaw, 36:15. FM - Mindy Shaw, 42:45, Sherry Aitken, 44:26, Danielle Dunivin, 47:32
2022: M - Seth Rutt, 35:46, Matt Beedle, 38:45, Justin Jones, 41:42. FM - Amie Spieth, 42:49, Brianna Grigsby, 43:09, 3: Cindy Tuckwood, 46:34
2023: M - Shawn Miller, 35:52, Rick Becker, 40:51, Ian MacDougall, 42:12. FM - Robin Welling, 42:00, Cait Fleischman, 44:18, Jennifer Loesch, 55:17
2024: M - Connor Arnell, 34:28, Seth Rutt, 36:47, Seth Nolen, 36:55. FM - Heidi Reifenstein, 37:40, Bridget McTague, 51:58, Abigail Booton, 54:01
2025: M - Ian Curtis, 36:29, Timothy McKenna, 37:34, Jason Norat, 37:4. FM - Heidi Reifenstein, 37:56, Kristen Strom, 49:54, Kate Osborne, 53:27
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
