Patterson pounds the men's field at Crow Pass Crossing for 4th win

Scott Patterson has this whole loneliness-of-the-long-distance-runner deal dialed in and it's working for him.

Patterson quickly separated himself from the men's field Saturday morning and then ran away from it to capture the Crow Pass Crossing backcountry marathon for the second straight year and fourth time overall.

The national champion nordic skier from Anchorage covered the daunting, perilous journey from near Girdwood to the Eagle River Nature Center in 2 hours, 58 minutes, 26 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in race history.

Patterson, 24, topped runner-up and two-time champion Eric Strabel (3:02:31) and third-place finisher A.J. Schirack (3:02:43) by more than four minutes.

The race opens with a four-mile climb that rises 2,000 vertical feet to Crow Pass before a rocketing descent over glacial moraine to the Eagle River Valley. There, runners often negotiate single-track strewn with raised rocks and tree roots.

Then they must ford Eagle River, cross creeks on small footbridges or logs, endure more hazard-laden trail and make one last short but taxing climb to the finish line.

http://www.adn.com/sports/2016/07/23/nature-happens-bees-bears-and-moose-join-cross-pass-crossing-race/

[Bees, bears and a bull moose all part of Saturday's Crow Pass]

[Christy Marvin captures third straight Crow Pass women's crown]

The Crow Pass Crossing in its 33-year history has been variously described as 28 miles, or 26, or 24, or 22.5. One racer's GPS on Saturday measured it at 22 miles.

Whatever the distance, another runner has rarely been within spitting distance of Patterson.

He won last year by 3:11. His winning cushion in 2013 was 7:44, and he won in 2012 by 3:22. Even when Patterson finished sixth in his race debut in 2011, he spent most of the race solo in no-man's land — he finished 2:51 out of fifth place and 9:13 ahead of seventh place.

The alone time is all good.

"I've never seen anyone. I do pretty well, honestly,'' Patterson said. "I can handle it.''

The only thing that eluded Patterson on Saturday was Geoff Roes' 2010 race record of 2:54:44, which he coveted even though his week prior to the race included 30 hours of ski training on Eagle Glacier near Girdwood.

Still, Patterson owns the second-fastest time in race history (2:56:13 last year) and three of the top nine times in history.

"I want that record, though,'' Patterson said with a grin.

[More photos of Saturday's Crow Pass Crossing]

Conditions and a balky ankle conspired against him in his pursuit of the record that belongs to Roes, the Juneau man who earlier in the 2000s dominated national and international races on trails and mountains.

Though overcast skies and cool weather furnished ample conditions for a record run, recent rains left sections of the trail slick, treacherous and slower than usual. Shoulder-high vegetation bowing over the trail also made it difficult for racers to see raised rocks, tree roots and subtle rises and dips.

All of those complications, not to mention falls — like many racers, Patterson went to the ground — rob a runner of rhythm and boldness.

"It's kind of like feeling around with your feet while trying to run fast,'' Patterson said.

He tempered his pace in stretches after tweaking his right ankle on the descent about five miles into the race. That's the same ankle Patterson dinged on the way to a strong fourth-place finish in his Mount Marathon debut in Seward on Independence Day.

[Catch the coverage of Scott Patterson's Crow Pass win in 2015]

No excuses from Patterson, though.

"I twisted it 17 miles ago and ran out, so it wasn't that bad,'' he said.

Not that Patterson needed extra motivation, but he wanted to finish quickly because he was scheduled to be in Girdwood by 1 p.m. — about three hours after he finished — for the wedding of his friend, Andrew Arnold, who finished runner-up to Patterson in the 2013 Crow Pass.

Once Patterson's sister, Caitlin, finished second in the women's race about 45 minutes after her brother crossed the finish line, the siblings hit the road.

Schirack, 27, was in no such post-race hurry, particularly after cramping with about five miles to go and Strabel in hot pursuit.

"From there on in, it was everything I could do to hold on,'' Schirack said.

Even so, he lopped 2:04 of his personal record for Crow Pass and kept his sense of humor.

As Strabel chased him down within the last 100 to 200 meters, Schirack jokingly gave him a carrot of sorts. As Strabel approached, Schirack raised his right hand and gave Strabel the finger.

Strabel, 34, who in six Crow Pass appearances owns two wins and four runner-up finishes, had Schirack in his crosshairs.

"I felt like I was catching him, but I knew I'd have to step it up to my A game to get him,'' Strabel said. "It's way more fun when you get to hunt.''

Chad Trammell finished fourth in his Crow Pass debut in 3:04:12. Kenneth Brewer earned fifth (3:06:21), lopping 3:21 off his previous best. And Ben Marvin earned sixth (3:12:43), obliterating his previous best by more than 13 minutes.

Trammell, whose debut included time lost when he, well, got lost in the first half of the race, stuck with Patterson about halfway up the climb of Crow Pass.

"(Patterson) said a lot of people have blown up trying to stay with him on the climb,'' Trammell said. "I'm one more you can add to that list.''

That illustrates Patterson's dominance Saturday, when some unofficial race reports from fans along the course in the second half of the race proved inaccurate.

"At one point, I got a report I was two or three minutes behind (Patterson) and right after that some girls said it was 40 seconds,'' Schirack reported. "Unless his leg is falling off and he's hopping on one leg, it's not 40 seconds.''

Crow Pass Crossing
Approximate distance: 22.5 miles

1) Scott Patterson 2:58:26.9; 2) Eric Strabel 3:02:31.5; 3) AJ Schirack 3:02:43.1; 4) Chad Trammell 3:04:12.6; 5) Kenneth Brewer 3:06:21.5; 6) Ben Marvin 3:12:43.3; 7) John Novak 3:14:33.4; 8) Forrest Mahlen 3:23:21.9; 9) Russell Johanson 3:26:35.3; 10) Christopher Clark 3:28:19.3; 11) Willie Stoll 3:33:07.8; 12) Joseph Nyholm 3:34:09.1; 13) Craig Taylor 3:34:33.4; 14) Franklin Dekker 3:38:08.4; 15) Tom Bronga 3:40:27.4; 16) Benjamin Muse 3:40:30.7; 17) David Apperson 3:42:57.8; 18) Erik Johnson 3:43:51.4; 19) Michael Versteeg 3:44:35.7; 20) Roan Hall 3:47:24.4; 21) Matthew Green 3:47:31.5; 22) Ben Ward 3:47:36.7; 23) Mike Monterusso 3:47:56.7; 24) Jay Mullen 3:50:59.5; 25) Scott Gage 3:53:16.5; 26) Brian Pautzke 3:55:50.6; 27) Will Mans III 3:56:45.3; 28) Matthew Shidner 3:59:15.6; 29) Lance Kopsack 3:59:21.3; 30) Mike Wahlig 3:59:55.1; 31) Alex Alonso 4:00:38.8; 32) Soren Wuerth 4:02:06.0; 33) Andrew Dougherty 4:03:23.9; 34) John Scott 4:03:47.3; 35) Jeffrey Levin 4:03:55.6; 36) Jeremy Weber 4:07:16.5; 37) Mark Brady 4:08:04.8; 38) Tully LaBelle-Hamer 4:08:21.5; 39) Jack Ginter 4:08:30.4; 40) Andy Varner 4:08:39.0; 41) Tom Callahan 4:10:14.7; 42) David Stamp 4:12:06.1; 43) Kevin Knotek 4:12:47.4; 44) Jim McDonough 4:14:02.4; 45) John Nagel 4:14:34.3;46) Jonathan Bangert 4:14:45.9; 47) Charles Schlichtmann 4:16:22.1; 48) Derek Nottingham 4:17:34.4; 49) Mark Hansen 4:18:07.7; 50) Fred Hveding 4:18:50.4; 51) Francis Cosgrave 4:24:31.2; 52) Matthew Glynn 4:24:43.4; 53) Evan Patterson 4:26:23.5; 54) James Mitchell 4:26:41.4; 55) Christopher Kirk 4:28:15.0; 56) Douglas Ketterer 4:28:43.2; 57) Matt Waliszek 4:30:15.9; 58) David Popiel 4:31:05.9; 59) Bill Pearson 4:31:11.1; 60) Mike Schroeder 4:33:30.5; 61) Luke Duffy 4:34:44.1; 62) Mike Michener 4:35:43.7; 63) John Wirum 4:36:35.8; 64) Thomas Nenahlo 4:37:07.1; 65) Sean Casey 4:37:15.4; 66) Dorian Gross 4:37:36.2; 67) Benjamin Logsdon 4:41:12.1; 68) Andy Shidner 4:42:00.0; 69) Gavin Kentch 4:42:10.6; 70) Evan Jones 4:43:17.0; 71) Rick Hansen 4:45:32.5; 72) Dan Virgin 4:47:32.4;
73) Max Kullberg 4:49:38.1; 74) Robb Kulin 4:49:44.3; 75) Jeremy Weaver 4:51:37.7; 76) Braden Van Dragt 4:51:46.0; 77) Martin Lindeke 4:52:31.9; 78) Sean Zumwalt 4:53:30.8; 79) Alec Kay 4:54:12.9; 80) Jordan Bancroft 4:55:13.3; 81) Barclay Roeder 4:55:38.7; 82) Jeremy Jaminet 4:55:52.2; 83) Christopher Walker 4:58:52.9; 84) Bob Gerik 4:59:12.5; 85) Daniel Crumpacker 4:59:53.9; 86) Kevin Lauver 5:04:46.4; 87) Braun Kopsack 5:05:53.7; 88) Dunnington Babb 5:06:51.4; 89) Matt Soule 5:08:31.7; 90) Marty Byrne 5:10:25.8; 92) Antony Cook 5:15:19.5; 92) Noah Zogas 5:16:38.0; 93) Rodney Wehr 5:31:25.7; 94) Michael Lloyd 5:31:29.8; 95) Aaron Christie 5:33:33.0; 96) Dan Engel 5:35:27.3; 97) Ed Leonetti 5:37:10.3; 98) Joshua Babeu 5:41:42.6; 99) Evan Steinhauser 5:48:44.2; 100) Peter VanDyne 5:56:19.3.

[Watch video of Crow Pass runners at Raven Glacier]