Allie Ostrander
Allie Ostrander, who made her mark principally as a steeplechaser in her first go-round as a pro, has said she intends to diversify her racing resume – adding road and trail/mountain racing to her usual track work – in her return to elite racing.
Sunday, she proved a road warrior.
Ostrander, the 26-year-old from Soldotna (Kenai Central) who was a three-time NCAA steeplechase champion at Boise State and a Mount Marathon legend before she was out of her teenage years, finished second at the Carlsbad 5,000 in Southern California. The seaside race bills itself as the “World’s Fastest 5K” road race because of its pancake-flat course and generally favorable weather conditions.
Ostrander closed strong, moving from third place to second over the final 1.1 miles of the 3.1-mile race and clocking 15 minutes, 47 seconds. Ostrander, who recently signed with outdoor brand NNormal, earned $2,000 as runner-up.
Laura Galvan of Mexico dominated the 11-woman elite field, blowing through the first mile in 4:51 – that was eight seconds faster than Ostrander – and crossing in 15:05 to earn $5,000. Great Britain Olympian Revee Walcott-Nolan, who Ostrander tracked down inside the final mile, finished third in 15:53 to earn $1,000.
Ostrander was in third place two miles into the race, nine seconds behind Walcott-Nolan. But Ostrander covered the last 1.1 mile in 5:32 to Walcott-Nolan’s 5:47 to seize second place. Galvan ran the last 1.1 mile in 5:22.
Ostrander last summer showed her chops on the roads by winning the Freihofer’s Run For Women 5K in Albany, N.Y. She finished sixth last month in the USA 15-K road championships at the Gate River Run in Florida.
She’s best known as a track and mountain/trail racer, competing in steeplechase at the 2019 world track championships, winning a world junior mountain running title and crushing Mount Marathon. She’s a former senior women’s winner (2017) on Mount Marathon, where she owns the third-fastest women’s time in history. Ostrander also won six straight junior girls titles (2009-2014) at Mount Marathon, once beat all the boys in the mixed-gender junior race and still owns the fastest time in junior girls history.
Ostrander started her pro career running for Brooks, a shoe company. She took a break from the sport to undergo treatment for an eating disorder in the summer of 2021 and left Brooks late that year to focus on her mental health. She has recently raved about her run of good training, and sound physical and mental health, on her YouTube Channel, where she frequently posts videos and has more than 27,000 subscribers.