Novak, Zellhuber top East Glacier Tangle

Klas Stolpe
1 hour ago
4 min read

No Mendenhall Glacier bears, just 44 runners on the trail

Ian Novak leads the pack at the start of the East Glacier Trail Tangle on Thursday, June 11, 2026. Novak won the 4.9-mile race in 37:04. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Independent)

By Klas Stolpe

Juneau Independent

Ian Novak, 25, and Sable Zellhuber, 26, were the male and female winners of the 4.9-mile East Glacier Trail Tangle race on Thursday among a field of 30 athletes.

Novak hit 37 minutes and 4 seconds, keeping a slight lead along the route and finishing ahead of the second- and third-place ribbon earners, Brandon Ivanowicz, 44, and Abe Kanter, 32, who finished in 38:52 and 39:47, respectively.

Brandon Ivanowicz heads into the final mile of the East Glacier Trail Tangle on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Independent)

“I think the hardest part is the flat right at the beginning and right at the end,” Novak said. “The hill, you are, like, trying as hard as you can and then on the flats you could push a little more, but, while flats are typically easier it is all about pushing yourself. I feel like the downhill is kind of a rest and then it is going hard at the beginning of the flat and just trying to run until the end. It was very fun.”

A former course for the race had a longer two-mile start at Valley Boulevard, but for the third year the race started at Gladstone Street near the Tongass National Forest sign. Racers then started up the East Glacier Trail switchbacks and straights, to the wooden stairs sections and looped around the trail back to Under Thunder and sprinted what they could muster to the finish.

Sable Zellhuber, Daniel Leder (1662), Michelle Eng (162), Hannah Bailey (1563), Addi (3129), and Grace Fluharty (180) run at the start of the East Glacier Trail Tangle on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Independent)

Zellhuber stayed in the mix of the front pack at the start and placed 11th overall with a time of 47:03 with the second-place female, Breea Mearig, 44, crossing 12th overall in 47:08 and the third-place female ribbon winner, Grace Fluharty, 25, crossing 13th overall in 47:50.

Runners had a flat section to start and then hit the slow inclines to the stair section and then the blazing downhill that features a narrow trail, seeming designed by Picasso.

“I think on the way down, those really tight switchbacks were the hardest part,” Zellhuber said. “They were really fun but hard to keep the momentum going on down...I found out about the race just two days ago and just signed up on the spot. I have run part of the trail before, up the stairs. But I haven’t linked the whole loop so it was kind of fun to do the whole loop and a really cool community event on a Thursday.”

Ribbon winners, from left, third-place male Abe Kanter, second-place male Brandon Ivanowicz, first-place male Ian Novak, first-place female Sable Zellhuber and third-place female Grace Fluharty pose for a photo at the finish of the East Glacier Trail Tangle, Thursday, June 11, 2026. Not pictured is second-place female Brea Mearig. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Independent)

Rowan Taintor, 13, had the fastest one-mile time with 6:14.5 among a field of 14 athletes. Due to a prior commitment Taintor was granted an early start and ran before the traditional starting time of both races. Guy Crockroft, 66, crossed first from the mass start in 8:24 with Tana O’Leary the first female in 9:05.6.

Last year’s race featured a brief “bear-pause” as a female black bear with cubs slowed the finish of red lantern runners Tell Spragg, 32, Paige Eddy, 28 and Ricardo Worl, 63. The three runners, and the three bears, had other obligations this year.

“No bears this race,” 14th-place runner Ricky Worl, 27, said. “Not even on my cooldown jog.”