Bear-aware runners Christy Marvin and Chad Trammell were on high alert Thursday night in the Turnagain Arm Trail Run.
Marvin said she saw bear sign everywhere on the 7.5-mile trail from Rainbow to Potter. Trammell said he'd heard so many tales of bear sightings in the area that he opted to do his pre-race warmup on the Seward Highway instead of the race trail.
Turns out the only thing under attack was the record book.
Marvin and Trammell shattered the race records while claiming victories in the first mountain run of the season.
Marvin, 35, became the first woman to beat the one-hour mark, finishing in 59 minutes, 16 seconds to take down Najeeby Quinn's 2014 record of 1:00:56.
And Trammell became the first man to break the 50-minute mark in the south-to-north version of the race, which switches directions every year. He clocked 49:32 to erase Eric Strabel's 2014 record of 50:12.
Marvin and Trammell took advantage of near-perfect conditions to post their first wins in the Turnagain Arm. Marvin was making her race debut and Trammell was last year's runnerup.
"It's as fast as this trail's ever been," said third-place Matias Saari, a three-time Turnagain Arm champion. "It was dry but not concrete."
The four-mile race from McHugh to Potter also delivered fast times. Fourteen-year-old Sebastian Szweda-Mittelstadt won in 22:39, equaling the 10th-fastest time on the south-to-north route, and Tara Master's 24:13 was the second-fastest time by a woman on the route and put her in third place overall.
The evening was cool and overcast, perfect for running. It's because it's been forever since it last rained, the trail – which has seen a lot of recent traffic – was hard-packed and mud-free.
Or at least mostly mud-free.
"Lots of bear sign," Marvin said. "Najeeby even slipped on some."
"That was, like, a big mud pile," Quinn explained with an exaggerated eye-roll. "She only let me lead because she's afraid of the freaking wildlife."
Quinn, a seven-time champion, set the early pace, with Marvin staying right with her.
But Quinn said that near McHugh Creek, about three miles into the race, she told Marvin to go on ahead, because she could tell it wasn't her night -- although Quinn's runnerup time of 1:00:13 beat her previous course record and ranks as the second-fastest south-to-north time in race history.
"I owe a lot to Najeeby," Marvin said. "A couple of weeks ago she showed me the trail and told me a lot of insider tips. It was really good to follow her the first couple miles. She paced me.
"…What I love about Najeeby is she's a die-hard competitor and she gives it everything she's got, but she's also cool enough that we'll do training runs together."
It's a relationship that works for both women, who are among Alaska's best trail and mountain runners.
"I showed her the Crazy Lazy (trail) last year and she beat me there, and she showed me this one and I beat her here," Marvin said.
Trammell said he didn't run the trail in advance of Thursday's race because he feared a bear encounter.
"I heard of so many bear sightings I didn't even want to risk it," he said. "I wanted to run it but I was just a little nervous."
Those nerves are why Saari and some others saw Trammell running on the highway as they were driving to the start line at Rainbow.
Trammell said the 25-minute run from the McHugh parking lot to Rainbow – into a stiff headwind – was his warmup.
"Usually I run from McHugh on the trail," he said, "but I was spooked by the bears."
Trammell's victory was his second in less than two weeks. He returned Sunday from a trip to Chile, where he won a five-mile Spartan obstacle race.
On Thursday, Trammell's deft downhill running allowed him to hold off runnerup Scott Patterson, an elite cross-country skier who excels on uphills.
"Chad crushed me on the downhills," Patterson said. "I could get him on the ups, but I've never really been a downhill runner."
Patterson finished a little more than a minute behind Trammell in 50:40 – the third-best south-to-north time in history. Next was Saari in 51:20 – the fourth-best time on the south-to-north route.
An ageless wonder who at age 45 slashed 92 seconds off his previous best, Saari was pleased with his performance.
"Absolutely," he said. "If I'm running faster as I get older, I've gotta be happy."
2016 Turnagain Arm Trail Run
8 miles, Rainbow to Potter
1) Chad Trammell 49:32 (northern route record; previous record, Eric Strabel, 50:12, 2014); 2) Scott Patterson 50:40; 3) Matias Saari 51:20; 4) Cody Priest 54:03; 5) Evan Hone 55:10; 6) Paul Kovacs 56:33; 7) Ben Ward 56:57; 8) Christopher Clark 57:28; 9) Willie Stoll 58:41; 10) Alex Alonso 58:43; 11) Craig Taylor 58:43; 12) Christy Marvin 59:16 (women's winner; northern route record; previous record, Najeeby Quinn, 1:00:56, 2014); 13) Najeeby Quinn 1:00:13 (second woman); 14) Brian Haviland 1:00:31; 15) Levi Younger 1:01:15; 16) Luke Duffy 1:01:36; 17) Tully LaBelle-Hamer 1:01:39; 18) Jeffrey Levin 1:02:33; 19) Galen Johnston 1:02:43; 20) Brad Benter 1:02:50; 21) Darcy Dugan 1:02:59 (third woman); 22) Luke Cvancara 1:03:33; 23) Rob Witter 1:03:47; 24) Andrew Resseguie 1:04:14; 25) David Stamp 1:04:18; 26) Charlie Gombos 1:04:35; 27) Jessica Velsch 1:04:37; 28) Tony Slatonbarker 1:04:59; 29) Cameron Reitmeier 1:05:02; 30) Conor Deal 1:05:04; 31) Cory Smith 1:05:20; 32) Mike Heatwole 1:05:34; 33) Kellen Lake 1:05:53; 34) Michael Cipriano 1:05:57; 35) Brian Pautzke 1:05:59; 36) Laura Fox 1:06:00; 37) Thomas Nenahlo 1:06:20; 38) Christie Haupert 1:06:36; 39) Derek Nottingham 1:06:45; 40) Tim Carlson 1:06:45; 41) Dan Brokaw 1:06:50; 42) David Funatake 1:07:09; 43) Rob Whitney 1:07:14; 44) Scott Pessetto 1:07:56; 45) Paul Ferucci 1:08:01; 46) Michael Quimby 1:08:13; 47) Greer Gehler 1:08:43; 48) Kevin Knotek 1:08:50; 49) Marta Darby 1:08:52; 50) Jeremy Weaver 1:09:11.
51) Dylan Robertson 1:09:39; 52) Bryan Anderson 1:10:07; 53) Tom Callahan 1:10:09; 54) Evan Jones 1:10:13; 55) Kyle Cheesbrough 1:10:15; 56) Matt Bonney 1:10:25; 57) Andy Varner 1:10:30; 58) April McAnly 1:10:32; 59) Rick Hansen 1:10:55; 60) Bill Pearson 1:11:27; 61) David Popiel 1:11:27; 62) Christopher Walker 1:11:35; 63) Adrienne Stolpe 1:11:41; 64) Daniel Virgin 1:12:00; 65) Rhyss Vivian 1:12:10; 66) Mike Michener 1:12:37; 67) Becky Butler 1:13:06; 68) Douglas Ketterer 1:13:07; 69) Matt Waliszek 1:13:09; 70) John Wirum 1:13:13; 71) Daniel Crumpacker 1:13:15; 72) Brian Broderick 1:13:21; 73) Ryan Bandy 1:13:27; 74) Alyse Loran 1:13:29; 75) Devan Anderson 1:13:54; 76) Mariah Graham 1:14:02; 77) Ari Stiassny 1:14:06; 78) Nicholas Walters 1:14:41; 79) J. Besl 1:14:51; 80) Kaylee Heck 1:15:19; 81) Whitney Andersen 1:15:36; 82) Barclay Roeder 1:15:44; 83) Lisa Morris 1:16:08; 84) Jean Miller 1:16:21; 85) Rich Stromberg 1:16:44; 86) Nelson Alger 1:16:54; 87) Paula Westbrook 1:16:55; 88) Westley Dahlgren 1:17:18; 89) Ellyn Brown 1:18:04; 90) John Clark 1:18:11; 91) Josh McFarland 1:18:36; 92) Katie Conway 1:18:57; 93) Sean Murphy 1:19:13; 94) Jeremy Jaminet 1:19:45; 95) Reidun Todd 1:20:28; 96) Beth Virgin 1:21:14; 97) Kathleene Simonson 1:21:22; 98) Bridget McBride 1:21:29; 99) Melanee Stiassny 1:21:31; 100) Maria Whitworth 1:21:34.
101) Kari Konrath-Bera 1:21:36; 102) Leigh Ann Bonney 1:21:56; 103) Megan Olson 1:21:59; 104) Hailey Clampitt 1:22:00; 105) Kristopher Heck 1:22:08; 106) Bonnie York 1:22:31; 107) Jana Seaman 1:22:49; 108) Misty Pekar 1:23:09; 109) Kyle Wilson 1:24:28; 110) Daniel Willman 1:24:30; 111) Kris Burnett 1:24:40; 112) Charlotte Edmondson 1:24:46; 113) Ari Gardner 1:24:47; 114) Jared Kern 1:24:51; 115) Kevin Heck 1:25:33; 116) Timothy Olson 1:25:56; 117) Jamie Whiteman 1:26:05; 118) Dane Crowley 1:26:42; 119) Karen Looney 1:26:43; 120) Jody Oyen 1:26:45; 121) Greg Atkin 1:26:47; 122) Kari Skinner 1:26:52; 123) Ashley Vonck 1:28:42; 124) Michael Braniff 1:29:18; 125) Shaina Seidner 1:30:07; 126) Anton Grygoryev 1:30:50; 127) Rikki Peck 1:30:57; 128) Jeff Chen 1:32:03; 129) Whitney Leonard 1:32:06; 130) Patricia Burrows 1:32:15; 131) Eric Zoesch 1:32:43; 132) Lindsey Carlson 1:32:53; 133) Michael Lloyd 1:33:20; 134) Emily Kloc 1:36:49; 135) Amanda Leather 1:38:12; 136) Jeri Collins 1:38:29; 137) Jenny Petersen 1:38:35; 138) Brenna Egeland 1:38:36; 139) Tess Frenchik 1:38:53; 140) Leah Legate 1:46:11; 141) Rebecca Mahar 1:46:39.
4 miles, McHugh to Potter
1) Sebastian Szweda-Mittelstadt 22:39; 2) Kelemen Legate 24:04; 3) Tara Master 24:13 (women's winner); 4) Christopher Scott 25:45; 5) Adrianna Proffitt 26:11 (second woman); 6) Leslie Varys 27:14 (third woman); 7) Shilan Wooten 27:31; 8) Tatum Witter 27:45; 9) Jennifer Phillips 28:03; 10) Blair Hensen 28:18; 11) Rich Wooten 28:40; 12) Leslie Rawson 28:59; 13) Cole Posthumus 29:10; 14) Rachel Duffy 29:12; 15) Olive Heatwole 29:30; 16) Matthew Vanderbilt 29:46; 17) Josie Garton 30:16; 18) Elisabeth Angeles 30:23; 19) Lauran Ballesteros 31:30; 20) Nathan Rehberg 31:35; 21) Milca Widmer 31:42; 22) Noah Rehberg 31:44; 23) Kate Vollrath 32:37; 24) Amy DeSchweinitz 32:38; 25) Rachelle Alger 33:33; 26) Courtney Eppler 33:56; 27) Evan R. Steinhauser 34:39; 28) Carley Lawrence 35:13; 29) Heather Marshburn 35:38; 30) Laura Kompkoff 35:51; 31) Erin Mcgregor 36:22; 32) Rennick Heatwole 37:01; 33) Marieke Heatwole 37:02; 34) Julie Diercks 37:47; 35) Brittany Smith 38:01; 36) Carrie Predeger 38:16; 37) Willow Heatwole 38:21; 38) Bob O'Connor 38:33; 39) Michael Rehberg 38:49; 40) Rose Brooks 38:53; 41) Janice Habermann 38:54; 42) Wendy Heck 43:05; 43) Zoe Witter 44:29; 44) Jen Witter 44:29; 45) Christian Blakney 44:28.