Lars Arneson

Lars Arneson returned to where he grew up and set a new record Sunday at the Kenai River Marathon.

Arneson, now of Anchorage, completed the 26.2-mile road course that starts and ends in Kenai in 2 hours, 35 minutes and 35 seconds.

Arneson eclipsed the previous record that his friend Allen Spangler set in 2015 by 67 seconds.

He won the race by 47 minutes over Felix Wong of Fort Collins, Colo.

Amanda Cherok of Homer took the women’s event in 3:32:01.

Arneson, who broke a longstanding record at the Matanuska Peak Challenge in August, showed his versatility by completing the Kenai course at a pace of 5 minutes, 57 seconds per mile.

Arneson has also won the first two events of this season’s Tuesday Night Races; the third event in the low-key trail series is Sept. 27 at Service High School.

From left to right, Jacob Kirk, Conor Deal, Ryan Cox, Corbyn Jahn and Chris Osiensky. Photo by Michael McCann

In other events:

  • · Klaire Rhodes, who recently moved from Anchorage to Reno, Nev., dominated the 50-kilometer race at the new Mammoth Trail Fest in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. Rhodes completed the trail course in 5:21:19, a full 20 minutes ahead of second place. Rhodes collected $1,500 for her efforts. Rhodes’ partner, Tracen Knopp (also formerly of Anchorage and Wasilla), placed fourth in the men’s 50K.
  • · At the Flagstaff Sky Peaks 26K race in Arizona, Ruby Lindquist of Moose Pass placed 17th in 2 hours, 43 minutes. The event was the finale of the 2022 Golden Trail World Series and drew several international running stars. Two women with Alaska connections made the podium: Olympic skier Sophia Laukli of Utah, who has raced in Alaska and whose uncle lives in Anchorage, placed second while new Mount Marathon Race record-holder Allie McLaughlin of Colorado took third. For the men, part-time Alaskan Ali Papillon, a Mount Marathon Race junior winner now living in Boulder, Colo., placed 18th in 2 hours, 12 minutes. His brother, Bodhi Gross, was the 25th male while Erik Johnson of Seward placed 47th.
  • · At the Klondike Road Relay Sept. 9-10, a quintet from Anchorage accomplished what no team had done before: they won the 109-mile event with just five racers, half the usual amount for the 10-leg event from Skagway, Alaska, to Whitehorse, Yukon. The team called 5 Guys – TNP (TNP stands for Take No Prisoners) consisted of Corbyn Jahn (legs 1 and 6), Conor Deal (legs 2 and 7), Ryan Cox (legs 3 and 8), Jacob Kirk (legs 4 and 9) and Chris Osiensky (legs 5 and 10). They won the overall race in 11 hours, 13 minutes and 37 seconds, more than two hours ahead of their nearest pursuers. Each leg ranges from 6 to 16 miles in length and TNP won six individual legs and finished second in the other four (Cox and Deal claimed both their legs). The Klondike Road Relay will celebrate its 40th running in 2023. The event drew more than 150 teams this year.

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