David Norris wins a fifth Mount Marathon, smashing his own record, while Klaire Rhodes claims her first victory

David Norris won his fifth Mount Marathon on Thursday, shattering his own race record, while Anchorage’s Klaire Rhodes won the women’s race for the first time.

Nearly 900 runners participated in the 96th running of the race. The iconic July 4 race starts and ends in downtown Seward, with competitors ascending a 3,022-foot mountain before coming down. It’s a distance of around 3.1 miles.

Conditions Thursday favored a fast race, with cool temperatures, dry ground, and almost no wind. Many racers took advantage of a patch of snow near the top of the mountain to improve their downhill time.

[Complete 2024 Mount Marathon results]

Norris, 33, shattered the race record, which he set in 2016, with a time of 40 minutes, 37 seconds. That’s 49 seconds off his 2016 record of 41:26. He finished more than 2 minutes ahead of second-place finisher Max King of Bend, Oregon. Norris, an elite cross-country skier and mountain runner originally from Fairbanks, now lives in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He’s won every Mount Marathon he’s entered, taking home the championships in 2016, 2018, 2021 and 2023.

Rhodes, 26, won the women’s race with a time of 49:49. It was her first win and fourth straight finish in the top five. Kendall Kramer of Fairbanks was second, Meg Inokuma of Palmer was third, Hannah Lafleur of Seward was fourth and three-time Mount Marathon winner Chrisy Marvin of Palmer was fifth.

[Photos from a fast Mount Marathon race]

Olive Jordan of Seward won the girl’s race while Coby Marvin of Palmer won the boy’s.

Full results here.