Lars Arneson, a 2009 graduate of Cook Inlet Academy, won the Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb on Bird Ridge on Sunday.
Arneson, who lives in Anchorage, won for the second straight year at the uphill-only race, which is 2.5 miles long and has 3,400 feet of climbing.
He finished in 41 minutes, 40 seconds, while 2022 champ Thomas O’Harra of Anchorage was next at 42:17. The race record was set by David Norris in 2021 at 35:40.
Novie McCabe, who Nordic skied in the 2022 Winter Olympics for Team USA, won the women’s race at 44:08, also finishing 10th overall. The Alaska Pacific University skier is now the fourth-fastest woman in the history of the race. Nancy Pease set the record at 42:27 in 1993.
Palmer’s Meg Inokuma, who lived on the central peninsula for the summers of 2014 to 2016, was second at 48:08. Seward’s Hannah Lafleur, a two-time champion of the Mount Marathon Race, was third at 49:04.
Anchorage’s Denali Strabel, a graduate of Seward High School, was fifth at 49:42, while Anchorage’s Julianne Dickerson, who was raised in Kenai, was 15th in 56:29.
Also, Seward’s Kristen Sieminski was 32nd in 1:03:09, Soldotna’s Gina Gregoire was 37th in 1:06:29, Seward’s Shelby Sieminski was 52nd in 1:13:45, Soldotna’s Sondra Stonecipher was 53rd in 1:14:01, Sterling’s Janee Moore was 62nd in 1:16:25 and Seward’s Jennifer Anderson was 66th in 1:17:39.
For the men, Seward’s Erik Johnson was 15th, and first among those 40 to 49, at 47:11. Also, Seward’s Collin Atkinson was 19th at 48:12.
