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Mount Marathon

2016 Mount Marathon race: Interview with 2nd Place Nick Elson

July 10, 2016 By Stano Faban 4 Comments

Nick is a La Sportiva athlete based in Squamish, BC. (Eric Carter Photo)
Nick is a La Sportiva athlete based in Squamish, BC. (Eric Carter Photo)
The Mount Marathon Race is one of the most storied of North American mountain running races. It is one of the oldest races in NA (first ran in 1915) and also incredibly dangerous with athletes frequently becoming injured, maimed, or altogether disappearing. Often confused with a race of the marathon distance, the Mount Marathon Race in Seward, Alaska is a total of five kilometres in distance featuring a 921m of elevation gain (3022 ft). For a little more about the race and the atmosphere surrounding it, check out the recent documentary 3022.
Last year on July 4th, La Sportiva athlete Nick Elson (living in Squamish, BC) lined up alongside multi-year winner Erik Strabel (AK), Salomon athlete Rickey Gates (CO), and the man who needs no introduction, Kilian Jornet (ESP). Much debate ensued over weather a non-Alaskan with little course experience could possibly compare to the Alaska hard-man with his intimate mountain knowledge. It seemed that the Alaskans underestimated Kilian, who ran home to a new course record. Meanwhile, the Canadian snuck across the line in 5th position with little fanfare – the announcers didn’t even mention Nick’s name.

The 2016 race rundown

Fast-forward to July 4th, 2016 and the race is wide open. Kilian opts not to return and no clear favourites emerge. Strabel and Gates aren’t quite showing the form they’d had in successful years and newcomers, David Norris and Scott Patterson (nordic skiers from APU) promise to be quick.
A spotlight is shone on the event when Salomon releases their Salomon Running TV episode focusing on the 2015 event.

Nick leading at the Canadian Mountain Running Championships (Squamish Valley Photography Club Photo)
Nick leading at the Canadian Mountain Running Championships (Squamish Valley Photography Club Photo)
Meanwhile, Nick has come off a successful season of ski mountaineering, competing both domestically and internationally on the World Cup and finishing the season as the Canadian National Champion and leader of the national ranking list. Spring rolled around and he increased his running after finishing his first year of law school. Nick capped off his pre-MMR training block by showing a glimpse of his form, comfortably winning the Canadian National Mountain Running Championships in Squamish, BC.
Race day arrives and David and Scott set a hard pace off the line with Nick and Ricky right on their heels. Because the race has no defined course aside from the start, top of the mountain, and finish, several decision points exist. At the end of the road, the APU skiers veer left to ‘the Cliffs’, a steep rocky section, while Nick and Rickey veer right to ‘the Roots’. Completely separated, the two groups can’t see each other and both probably worry that the other is moving faster. The trails come back together and emerge on the upper flanks of the mountain with the skiers ahead and Nick and Ricky trailing. David is looking strong and has a serious gap over Scott, with Nick not far behind. On the upper mountain, racers paddle up loose rocky scree, alternating between running and a power-hike with hands on their knees.
Start of the 2016 MMR (Todd List Photo)
Start of the 2016 MMR (Todd List Photo)
Passing the turn-around point at the summit, each racer takes a slightly different tack to descend the first portion, a large snowfield, remnant from the winter. All of the contenders end up in a nearly out of control butt-slide, jumping up at the last second before plowing into rocks at the bottom. From here it takes just minutes to descend the scree, a creek-bed portion of the mountain called ‘the Gut’ and then ‘the Cliffs’  and a short sprint down the road to the finish line. David holds his lead with a strong finish and a new course record. Nick passes Scott shortly after the snowfield and finishes second (with the third fastest time in history!) while Erik Strabel makes a come from behind attack on the descent to finish third.
For more insight into the race, we asked Nick a few questions. His answers are about as understated as they get. Also, for our American readers, bum is polite Canadian for butt.

The Interview

How was the pace off the line?
Nick: Because the race is so short and intense, everyone including myself seems to be pretty nervous and jumpy off the line. However, after the initial excitement, we settled into a pretty reasonable pace and I was able to cruise along behind Rickey and enjoy all the cheering as we ran to the base of the mountain.
Why did you choose to follow Ricky up the roots vs going with the David & Scott and do you wish you had chosen to go with them in hindsight?
Nick: I don’t think there’s much difference between the roots and the cliff – in fact I still think the roots are slightly more direct if you don’t mind using your hands a bit more. However, I think David and Scott really hammered once they hit the base of the mountain so they had a gap on us by the two routes met up. I followed Ricky because he’s a really strong climber and I hoped he’d have a strong race and I’d be able to hang on behind him. I do wonder whether I might have been able to climb a bit faster had I tried to go with Scott and David, but I think there’s also a good chance I would have blown up.
Where and how did you pass Scott?
Nick: I passed Scott just before where the descent route crosses the climbing route. I actually passed him by taking a better and more direct trail, but he was descending pretty carefully as I think he had some ankle issues. He had 15 starts on the FIS XC skiing world cup last year so I think his priority was probably not to jeopardize his ski season.

The butt-slide (Gregg Brown Photo)
The butt-slide (Gregg Brown Photo)
Did you intend to butt-slide the snow? Got any scars?
Nick: Yeah, we checked out the snow before the race. It would have been better style to boot ski it, but bum sliding seemed faster and less tiring. The snow dropped off pretty steeply right before turning to scree so I had to dig in my heels and my fingers pretty hard to slow down. I got some road rash on my bum and my palms were numb and tingling for a few hours after the race.
How important do you think course and previous race experience is?
Nick: I think it’s definitely helpful to know the course – certainly it would be a mistake to run it without spending some time figuring out the best way to go in each section. However, I don’t think the minute details matter as much as some people think. I think the experience from last year helped me, but mostly to understand the unique demands of the race and how to best prepare for it.
How was your keg stand?
Nick: I was lame and passed out by 3am before the keg stands really got going. However, for some reason some of the guys decided to bring the keg inside the house. The next morning a hungover Rickey Gates was apologetically scrubbing footprints off the ceiling.
Nick on a 'non-traditional' training run on his home peak the Chief (Eric Carter Photo)
Nick on a ‘non-traditional’ training run on his home peak the Chief (Eric Carter Photo)
How did you prepare leading into the race?
Nick: After the ski season I took a pretty unstructured approach to training for a while. However, in the two months leading up to the race, I tried to make sure that I had a bit of a plan for getting in consistent hard workouts. I also spent a couple weeks in Canmore a month before the race which turned out to be a great place to train with lots of steep terrain right above town. After last year, I realized that running the downhill well would require a bit more specific preparation so I actually did some downhill intervals which was a first for me.
What was your favourite workout?
Nick: I didn’t race much this spring or early summer and since most of my workouts are time-based and uphill, it was hard to get a concrete sense of where my fitness was and so I decided to do a time-trial up the first peak of the Chief (a 500m climb near Nick’s house) a month and a half out. I wasn’t too well rested but I managed to run a solid time for me (17:42) which was a good confidence boost. It’s not something I would do very often, but it gave me an idea of what I needed to work on in the lead up to the race.
Nick climbing in the 2016 MMR (Philipp Reiter Photo)
Nick climbing in the 2016 MMR (Philipp Reiter Photo)
Will you be back to try for a win?
Nick: It’s a pretty awesome race and I feel like I still have some room for improvement so I’d like to go back. I’ve got a guaranteed spot for next year which is a valuable commodity – the top bid in the auction this year was $4500!
What’s next?
Nick: The plan for the next little while is to focus on some more technical objectives in the mountains. I also plan to run an ultra or two later in the year.
Keep your eye on Nick, easily the best mountain runner in Canada.
Congratulations Nick and we can’t wait to see you on top of the podium next year!

2016 full race videos

Men’s race:

Women’s race:

Filed Under: News Shorts, People (Interviews) Tagged With: Mount Marathon, Nick Elson

Mount Marathon 2015 Race Preview

July 2, 2015 By Stano Faban Leave a Comment

Mount Marathon course information from seward.com
Mount Marathon course information from seward.com
While the Mount Marathon Race in Seward Alaska is relatively unknown to most of the US and the world, it is a pillar of mountain running in Alaska. With a 80+ year history, it is one of (if not the) oldest mountain running races in North America. In recent years, as the race becomes more competitive, it is quickly becoming an event that is looked on seriously by racers worldwide.
In 2013, the Mount Marathon garnered significant attention as the course record, set by Bill Spencer 32 years prior, was smashed by Alaska local Eric Strabel. Strabel, the head Nordic Ski Coach at APU, trained specifically for the race, both in terms of his fitness and sussing out the best possible course. Unique to the Mount Marathon are the course rules which essentially state that, aside from starting and finishing at the line, you must just run around the rock at the top of the course, choosing your own line as you go. With racers picking their own line through small cliff bands and down scree, this absolutely has an effect on the outcome of the race, especially on the descent.
Also of note in 2013 was the second place finisher, American ultra runner Rickey Gates. Gates actually led the race by a small margin until Strabel was able to overtake him on the descent (during which Gates fell and dislocated his shoulder see video linked at the bottom). Strabel out sprinted Gates who finished 2nd, also ahead of Spencer’s 1981 course record.
In 2014 both Gates and Strabel returned to the race for a rematch. Strabel again won with Gates finishing in 4th. As the notoriety of the race increases, bigger names will continue to show up and with the 2015 running, Seward will have the biggest name of all in attendance – Kilian Jornet! Jornet (ESP) is widely considered the best mountain runner in the world and is sure to do well at the Mount Marathon. Not only does he have one of the best engines in the world – routinely on top of skimo and sky running podiums – but also with a fantastic ability to run technical descents, a critical component of the Mount Marathon (See this shot of Jornet descending the Matterhorn – not 100% applicable but impressive nonetheless). The big question is: can Jornet knock Strabel off the top of the podium and set a new record time?
First looking at the uphill. The ascent requires approximately 33 minutes for the 880 meters of elevation gain. This is comparable time-wise to a vertical kilometre but is obviously less gain. It also includes a section of flat road at the beginning (for a total distance of 2.49 kilometres). The approximate grade of the climbing portion of the race is a fairly steep 35%! I’ll compare this to the vertical kilometre course in Chamonix which has an average grade of 26% for 1000 meters of gain. An interesting side note: the VK world record set in Fully, Switzerland by Urban Zemmer, is an amazing 1960 VAM! Fully is considered to be the most ideal VK course in the world with a direct ascent at a steady (and ideal) grade. VK racers also frequently use poles to ascend even faster.
Strabel’s fastest Mount Marathon ascent was 33.7 minutes. Because times between events like this are difficult to compare, it is easier to use a metric borrowed from cycling called VAM which is an estimation of ascent speed. Note the units are not m/sec but and arbitrary unit (VAM). Strabel’s ascent was at a mean VAM of 1567. Compare this to Jornet’s time of 34.9 minutes on the Chamonix VK climbing at a mean VAM of 1720. Significantly faster and with 120 additional meters of elevation gain. One thing to consider however is that the footing of most VK races (including in Chamonix) is significantly better than that of the Mount Marathon. Ascending well defined and groomed footpaths is much easier than loose scree. This certainly accounts for some loss in climbing speed.

Given Jornet’s fitness and the fact that he is regularly competing with and winning against the best athletes in the world, I would be hard pressed to bet against him being easily able to ascend the peak faster than anyone else. That being said, he may opt to race alongside the local athletes in order to follow their best line of descent back to the base and drop them once past any major technical difficulties. With such a short race however, (Strabel’s record descent is just over 11 minutes!) any small mistake could cause this strategy to backfire. A trip or fall like Ricky Gates’ in 2013 could jeopardize the race.
Penny Assman falling down 'the cliffs' in one of the more serious accidents in the history of the Mount Marathon. Photo by Carol Griswold.
Penny Assman falling down ‘the cliffs’ in one of the more serious accidents in the history of the Mount Marathon. Photo by Carol Griswold.
I suspect we will see Jornet recon the descent a few days prior to the race and then run ahead of the front runners to gain a healthy gap on the ascent and only increase that gap on the descent. I put Strabel in 2nd because of his history with the race but there may be several local athletes chasing his heels, waiting for a crack in the armour. Gates is returning as well and can’t be discounted for a good performance.
Besides SkinTrack’s general interest in mountain athletics, we are personally invested in this years Mount Marathon because one of the contenders is Squamish local and leader of the 2014-15 Canadian Ski Mountaineering National Team, Nick Elson! Nick applied for and was granted special permission to enter this year’s race and will be traveling to Seward shortly to start familiarizing himself with the course.
After chasing Jornet throughout the skimo season in Europe, Nick is familiar with his fitness and likely realizes that Jornet on top form will be unbeatable on the ascent. The top Alaskans however are certainly in Nick’s sights. If we look at the 2013 Grouse Grind race in which Nick placed third, the course tackles 853 meters of elevation with an average grade of 28% which is much closer to the Mount Marathon (by the numbers, the trace itself however is still very well defined- mostly stairs). Nick ran a mean VAM of 1786 – higher than Strabel’s 1567 VAM on Mount Marathon. We must also take into account the flat at the start of the Mount Marathon which reduces the VAM.
It is hard to compare performances on the descent as much of the Mount Marathon course features scree that can be almost skied down. Strabel’s amazing 11.01 minute descent has a VAM of -4795! Nick is well known as one of the strongest descenders in Canada and it will be interesting to see how he stacks up on the scree. In my opinion, Nick certainly has the potential to perform as one of the top three North Americans in the race. We caught up with Nick in the week leading up to the race.
Nick Elson winning the 2015 Sea to Summit race in Squamish BC. Photo: Squamish Valley Photo Association.
Nick Elson winning the 2015 Sea to Summit race in Squamish BC. Photo: Squamish Valley Photo Association.
Skintrack: What kind of specific training have you begun to prepare for Mount Marathon?
Nick: I’ve been trying to train as much as possible on the steepest trails around Squamish. To prepare for the climb, I’ve been doing some hard workouts on terrain where I’m forced to power-hike. For the descent, I’ve been doing some faster downhill running although I always try to stay in control enough that I don’t fall and hurt myself and also don’t get so sore that I can’t train the next day.
Skintrack: The descent is pretty daunting. Have you been training specifically for that and do you have any strategies?
Nick: I think that the descent is a big part of what makes the race so exciting. The upper portion is on loose scree which appears to allow you to reach pretty high speeds.
Lower down it gets more technical and there are a few options including “the cliffs” and “the falls”.
The fact that there are no course markings and you can choose your own route definitely adds an interesting tactical element to the race (and explains how a runner disappeared and was never found during the 2012 race). I’ll have three days prior to the race to preview the course and hopefully find the best route for me personally. I’m definitely a bit nervous because I know that to be competitive in such a strong field I’m going to have to take some chances on the descent.
Skintrack: What are you looking forward to most about the race and finally what plans do you have for racing the rest of the summer?
Nick: I’m looking forward to the whole scene surrounding the race. This will be my fifth time in Alaska so I think I have an idea of what to expect. However, I think the whole experience will be a little bit crazy. After the Mt. Marathon race, I plan on running the NACAC/Canadian Mountain Running Championships at Cypress on July 18th. Then I’ll try to shift my focus to longer distances in the lead-up to the Squamish 50.
Not to leave out the women, recent years have not seen heavy competition. The female course record was set in 1990 by Nancy Pease in a time of 50.5 minutes (which would have earned her 11th place in the 2014 mens race) and stands fairly uncontested. Olympian Holly Brooks gave several serious stabs at the record but struggled with difficulties in the heat. Something that could be a major factor in this year’s race. 2015 is likely to be dominated by sky and ultra running superstar Emelie Forsberg. Forsberg (SWE) is attending the race for the first time but routinely dominates anything she enters. My bets are hands down on Emelie for the win.
Follow the race live here!
Mt Marathon:
880m Ascent
35% Grade
33.68 min (Eric Strabel) 1567 VAM
Downhill: 11.01 min
Overal Record: 42.92
Female – Nancy Pease (1990) 50.5 min (11th place in 2014 Men’s Race)
Chamonix VK:
1000m
26%
34.88 min (Killian Jornet) 1720 VAM
VK RECORD:
Fully Switzerland
1000m
30.6 min (Urban Zemmer) 1960 VAM
Grouse Grind:
853m
28%
26.38 min (Joe Grey) 1940 VAM
28.6 min (Nick Elson) 1786 VAM
Calculations:
VAM = (vertical ascent in meters X 60) / minutes

Filed Under: General News & Articles Tagged With: Emelie Forsberg, Eric Strabel, Kilian Jornet, Mount Marathon, mountain running, Nick Elson, Preview, Race

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