Men’s winner Davis Norris is 5-for-5 at Mount Marathon. Photo courtesy of Mount Marathon Race
No need for fireworks tonight. What David Norris did today on Mount Marathon dims any prospect of a more dazzling display this Fourth of July in Alaska.
Norris put on a show for the ages Thursday morning in Seward, unleashing an explosion of uphill power that carried him to a spectacular record and a stunning victory in the Super Bowl of Alaska sports.
He slashed 49 seconds off his previous record by winning the brutal three-mile race up and down Seward’s landmark mountain in 40 minutes, 37 seconds.
He crushed two-time champion Max King by more than two minutes.
And, most shockingly, he raised a once-unthinkable question: Is a sub-40-minute Mount Marathon possible?
Certainly his time Thursday could have been a little quicker had Norris not slapped so many hands as he ran down 4th Avenue on his way to the finish line in front of the Yukon Bar.
But who will begrudge Norris, a 33-year-old five-time champion, those moments as he smiled broadly, knowing both victory and the race record were well in hand?
An Alaska-grown cross-country skier who has called both Fairbanks and Anchorage home and now lives in Colorado, Norris came to the race with a mission: Breaking his 2016 record of 41:26.
He showed last week that he was in prime shape by placing second — sandwiched between two Kenyans — at a Cirque Series mountain race in Brighton, Utah.
Mount Marathon
Men’s Top 10
1) Davis Norris 40:37
2) Max King 42:52
3) Jessie McAuley 44:02
4) Ali Papillon 44:41
5) Bodhi Gross 44:54
6) Jeret Gillingham 45:13
7) Michael Earnhart 45:34
8) Darren Thomas 45:57
9) Lars Arneson 46:24
10) Lyon Kopsack 46:27
Complete results HERE
On Thursday he quickly built a big lead as he power-hiked up the steep slopes of Mount Marathon, making the climb to the 3,022-foot turnaround in less than 30 minutes. No other racer was in sight when he began his descent.
“I wanted to hammer the uphill,” Norris said during a livestream finish-line interview with a Tudor Road Studio reporter. “I was a minute faster than my fastest-ever on the uphill. I pounded the road in — that was definitely the hardest I’ve ever gone on the road.”
Right about then, second-place King of Bend, Ore., walked over to congratulate Norris.
“Record?” he asked Norris, who nodded. “Yeah, baby!”
Victory in seven of the last eight races has gone to either Norris (2016, 2018, 2021, 2023, 2024) or King (2019, 2022), with Scott Patterson’s win in 2017 adding a lone bit of variety.
King’s runnerup finish came in 42:52 on a cool, rain-free day in Seward that yielded a dry, nearly snowless course. That’s faster than either of his two winning times but 19 seconds shy of his personal-best 42:33, posted in 2018 when he placed second to Norris.
“Norris, he just ran away from me on the climb,” King said. “(He) was just gone.”
At 44, King is two decades or more older than his closest pursuers Thursday — and they weren’t that close.
Max King was second. Photo courtesy of Mount Marathon Race
He was more than a minute ahead of third-place Jessie McAuley, a 24-year-old from British Columbia making his second appearance in the race. McAuley made the podium with a time of 44:02, comfortably ahead of a couple of young brothers from Colorado — 19-year-old Ali Papillon (44:41), who won the junior boys race in 2021, and 23-year-old Bodhi Gross (44:54).
Another young out-of-state runner, Jeret Gillingham of Oregon, placed sixth in 45:13 thanks to a strong uphill; Gillingham recently wrapped up his Western Washington University track career with an NCAA Division II All-America finish in the steeplechase.
The first Alaska resident to finish was 21-year-old Michael Earnhart of Eagle River, seventh in 45:34.
But Alaska can claim Thursday’s winner as one of its own. Even though he calls Steamboat Springs home now, Norris grew up in Fairbanks and trained in Anchorage for several years with the Alaska Pacific University nordic team.
He’s a Mount Marathon legend, and not just for his record-setting ways. Norris is 5-for-5 at Mount Marathon – he has entered the race five times and he has won it five times, an unprecedented accomplishment in modern race history.
He’s as dependable as fireworks on the Fourth of July.
