AOTW: Klaire Rhodes, David Norris make Mount Marathon look easy once again

SEWARD, Alaska (KTUU) - Just like they did in 2024 and 2025, the 2026 Mount Marathon champions are telling the rest of the field to catch up.

For the third year in a row, Klaire Rhodes and David Norris took home first place in the historic Seward tradition.

“On the last corner I checked to see if anybody was close behind me and then once I knew no one was coming off my heels, I was like, ‘all right, time to have fun and give me high fives as I can,’” Norris said.

Norris has entered the race seven times and won every time. The 35-year-old’s 43 minute, 8 second final time was just under a minute ahead of the next closest finisher.

According to Norris, he did it while battling sloppy conditions from the day’s consistent rainfall.

″The lower half is pretty slimy and slick, I actually didn’t expect it to be as slick as it was," Norris said. “For me it was just like finding my rhythm on the downhill. My legs were kind of stiff going into the first like minute or two of the downhill, and then I felt like I got my legs under me, and then all of a sudden I fell three times on the downhill. And I’ve basically never fallen before, and I took three tumbles, so that was kind of brutal and I’m feeling it a little.”

The women’s race started a few hours later, where Rhodes says it was about the same.

“It being a muddier year, it’s common to take this line to the right on the lower mountain called the ‘B Line’, which I’m not super familiar with,” Rhodes recounted. “I thought I knew where I was going and I ended up kind of leading me and Kendall Kramer and maybe a few others a little bit astray. We were in a pretty rugged off-trail area, so I was a little worried at that point, I thought my race was maybe over...”

“I know that Rosie [Fordham] and Kendall are more cautious on the downhill, so I wasn’t too worried being close to them at the top and they kind of got to the top and then go left and I don’t know what their strategy is there, but I usually just go right down. So, I did that and pretty quickly got up in front of them, but I was more worried about Christy [Marvin] coming because I know she’s a super good downhiller. So, I really just had to push as hard as I could. I’m not the best downhiller on the day, I’m kind of good enough, so that was my strategy is to do just enough to hold my spot.”

Now a three-time champ, Rhodes still runs this race like its her first ever

“This race was really my like introduction to trail and mountain running,” Rhodes said. “Every year it’s like a homecoming for me, so to kind of cement myself in the race’s history is super meaningful.”

Meanwhile, Norris now trails only Bill Spencer for the most Men’s Mount Marathon title all-time. A win in 2027 would give him a share of the record at 8 while putting him just one shy of Nina Kemppel’s overall win mark at 9.

“Those guys like Bill Spencer and Eric Strabel and Brad Precosky, they were people I looked up to and [was] inspired by when I was younger,” Norris said. “I never thought of myself being like compared with them, they’re my heroes and so hopefully I’m inspiring some other young kids and making it exciting for folks.”

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