Alyeska race combines a national mountain running tour event with Last Frontier flavor

Mount Marathon bills itself as “the toughest 5K on the planet.”

Saturday’s mountain race in Girdwood — the Cirque Series Alyeska — might be the world’s toughest 10K.

The race is one of six mountain runs in the series, which also includes three races at ski resorts in Utah, one in Wyoming and another in Colorado. It doubles as one of nine Grand Prix races on the Alaska Mountain Runners calendar.

That means the arduous Alyeska offers the best of both worlds — a national tour event with a heavy dose of Last Frontier flavor.

The race begins at the Sitzmark with the first of three waves of runners — pro, expert and sport — starting at 10 a.m.

In Cirque Series races, it’s a run for the money — the top three pro finishers in the men’s and women’s divisions get paid.

You can expect David Norris, who is from Fairbanks, to be cashing a check. He’s the defending men’s champion and set a Mount Marathon record this month, which makes him a good bet to repeat.

As for the women’s race, there’s no clear-cut favorite.

Kendall Clark, also of Fairbanks, is making her pro debut after being promoted by Cirque Series.

“I’m gonna be in the pro division this year,” she said. “I was in expert in years past. They won’t let me do that anymore.”

For good reason. The 22-year-old UAF skier won the Alyeska two years ago, and after placing second at Mount Marathon this month, she has earned the bump to the big leagues.

Last year’s Alyeska winner, Novie McCabe, isn’t running it this year, nor is freshly crowned Mount Marathon champion Klaire Rhodes. With both out of the picture, McCabe was quick to reply when asked about who might collect the $1,000 that goes to pro-class winners.

“Kendall Clark,” McCabe said. “I think she would be in the mix for sure.”

One runner coming up from the Lower 48 who is likely to keep Clark from coasting to victory is Laurel Moyer.

The 27-year-old from Pennsylvania finished third at the USA Track and Field Mountain Running National Championships on July 13 in Snowbird, Utah, and comes off as a pretty cool customer.

She’s never been to Alaska, and when asked what she knew about the course, said, “I just know the miles and how much vert there’s going to be. I don’t get too worried about the little intricacies of the course, because I just like to go out and run.”

The 6.2-mile course features a variety of terrain. It goes up 3,890 vertical feet as it loops up and around the top of the ski area before coming back down. It begins on the Tanaka Cat Track, segues onto the Silvertip single-track mountain bike trail, steepens up Center Ridge and Teacup Bowl and then levels out across the harrowing Headwall ridge that has three sections with rope handrails before plunging through the trees on Max’s Mountain.

Clark is a fan of the course and the event, which features a DJ, food trucks and a vendor village full of gear.

“It’s just a really fun race,” she said. “The atmosphere is really fun and the course is engaging the whole time, and it’s not as oh-my-gosh-I-hate-my-life as Mount Marathon.”