The legend of Ephriam Kalmakoff: The small, orphaned teen who set a Mount Marathon record that went untouched for nearly 30 years

SEWARD, Alaska (KTUU) - The story of Ephriam Kalmakoff’s historic Mount Marathon performance is a tale that has been told throughout Alaska for nearly a century.

It begins in 1912 on the Alaska Peninsula in Chignik, where Kalmakoff, an Aleut Native, was born. As a young child, both of his parents contracted and died of tuberculosis.

Kalmakoff and his siblings were ultimately placed in the Jesse Lee Home for Children in Seward.

As a teenager, he and fellow members of the home regularly participated in a young footrace known as ‘Mount Marathon.’ The first race was held in 1915. The course is 5-kilometers long and ascends about 3,000 feet of the mountain, ‘Mount Marathon.’ After the long climb, participants run straight back down to the finish in downtown Seward.

″A few years after [Kalmakoff was at the Jesse Lee Home], a lot of these kids must have been athletes, because they formed a lot of the participants in the Mount Marathon race, which at the time was only, I don’t know, 10 years old,“ Current Mount Marathon Race Director Matias Saar said. ”The first time he was going to run it was 1927 and they changed the race to a Sunday to accommodate some tourists. He was a devout Methodist, so he stuck to his guns and opted not to race that year at age 15."

But Kalmakoff still had his eyes atop the famed mountain.

“He came back the next year for his first Mount Marathon.”

And the rest is history, still recognized nearly 100 years later.

At 16-years old, Kalmakoff conquered the mighty Mount Marathon in 52 minutes and 35 seconds, breaking the previous mark by nearly two minutes.

″That would still be a competitive time 100 years later," Saari said.

It’s a time that stood atop the mountain and in the record books for nearly 30 years.

″That record held until 1954 and it took an Olympic athlete from Sweden to break [Kalmakoff’s record,] a man by the name of Sven Johanson.“

Among the most impressive parts of the historic feat was Kalmakoff’s size; reportedly sneaking under the finish line tape in downtown Seward.

“He’s a tiny kid, I mean, he’s super short from the pictures and he’s wearing his Boy Scout uniform.”

“We’re talking 1920’s, so it’s not like they had running shoes or any gear or knew about training or anything,” Saari added.

But that wasn’t the end of Kalmakoff’s time atop the mountain. The very next year, he defended his title and outpaced fellow Jesse Lee Home member and Alaska legend Benny Benson by just a few seconds for victory. Benson is most known for designing the flag of Alaska, winning the contest in 1927 just a few years prior.

Kalmakoff, already the youngest winner ever, became the historic race’s first three-time champion the following year at age 18 and placed second overall in 1931.

But Kalmakoff never raced again. He contracted tuberculosis himself in 1932 and tragically passed away at the age of 25 just five years later.

The rapidly spreading and rather unknown disease at the time prevented the race from being held from 1932-1938.

However, Kalmokoff’s legacy lives on a century later. The story of a small, teenage orphan making one of the world’s toughest foot races look easy was officially inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame as one of the state’s greatest sports moments.

“It’s just all around a phenomenal story, and it’s just cool that enough of the story has been preserved that we know enough to, to be able to honor him.”

Mount Marathon 2026, 98 years after Kalmakoff’s record-breaking run, is scheduled for this Saturday in Seward.

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