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About halfway through the ascent of Mount Marathon, Brenton Knight knew he was finished.

The 2002 SoHi graduate, a member of the front-running group most of the way up of the snow-covered, 3,022-foot peak in the 81st running of the grueling Fourth of July event, had the feeling that it just wasn't his year.

"The legs just tell you when they're done a little bit," he said. "I pushed through it as best I could, and it just worked out a little better for the other guy."

That "other guy" happened to be Anchorage's Trond Flagstad, who overcame three consecutive second-place finishes and a deficit at the summit in capturing the crown in Friday's men's competition with a time of 44 minutes, 3 seconds.

When Knight crossed the finish line in sixth place, 4:05 behind Flagstad, the Anchorage resident embraced the champion, telling him he deserved the title.

"He's one of the toughest competitors," Knight said. "He did everything he could to stay with us and beat us up the mountain and then he used his training. He practices hard. That's where a lot of people will come short, is the downhill. Like I said, he deserves every bit of it."

In return, Flagstad, 38, offered some inspirational words of his own to the 24-year old, predicting next year was Knight's turn.

"I believe him. He's going down," Knight said with a laugh. "Like I said, it doesn't matter whether you win or last place in this race, the fact that you finish is, I think, the biggest accomplishment and that's what's great about it. People pat you on the back no matter what."

There were enough pats to go around.

Plenty for Knight. And more for Flagstad.

Even Nikiski graduate Sam Hill, who led up and down the mountain until Flagstad passed him on the downhill, earned his fair share, too, after taking second.

And then there was 41-year-old Brad Precosky, the two-time defending champion gunning for his seventh title in 18 races, which would have inched him closer to Bill Spencer's record of eight.

But Precosky, who trailed throughout the ascent and said he heard he was about 3:30 behind the leader near the summit, finished fourth, 2:56 after Flagstad.

"I feel like more of a spectator in this race a little bit," he said. "I didn't have any idea what place I was at going up. ... At the finish line I heard the announcer say I was in fourth place. So, I felt like spectator all the way through just kind of running my own race.

"I would have liked to have been in a little bit better shape."

That's one thing Flagstad clearly had working in his favor.

"He's very deserving. He's paid his dues. He's progressed his time farther and farther. He's earned it," Precosky said of the man who dethroned him. "And he takes this race seriously and that's important. It's important to me. He puts in a lot of training and a lot of it was specific to this and that's what turned the corner for him."

With more snow than usual and muddier terrain on the mountain, Flagstad maintained pace with Knight and Hill down the road, where they excel, according to the champ, and by the time he touched Mount Marathon, he was "toasted."

"So, I let up a little bit and they got ahead of me. I needed to catch my breath. But hiking is my strong side, so I just found my own rhythm, got into a good pace and started chasing them down," he said. "I caught Brent halfway and then left him right away, he didn't hang on. And then I started gaining on Sam towards the top."

Flagstad -- whose time was barely off the men's record of 43:23 set by Spencer in 1981, yet was still swift enough to break the 30-to-39-year-old mark of 44:49 crafted by Sam Young in 1985 -- trailed the 30-year-old by roughly two minutes at the summit.

"Not knowing how he's been training at all," Flagstad said of Hill, "I never took anything for granted."

Halfway down the unsteady terrain, he closed to within 20 seconds, he said.

"I got into this rhythm that I know I have and I just pushed through and it felt great."

Following his three straight runner-up finishes, including an 11.67-second setback last year, everything went according to plan this time around, allowing Flagstad to raise his arms in triumph as he calmly trotted across the finish line.

"I followed my race strategy and it was just perfect," he said. "Every single person up there was saying, 'Hey Trond, come on Trond. Go Trond,' and we were all together and I think just because I've been second so many times, everybody called for me and maybe, I don't know, wanted me to win, or whatever."

Even one competitor was hoping he would.

Well, sort of.

Skyview graduate Erick Romig, who skis for Flagstad at the University of Alaska Anchorage, was pulling for his coach. After himself, of course.

"Of course I wanted to win because I'm in the race, too, but I was definitely deep down rooting for Trond all along," said Romig, who topped his 25th-place finish in his first men's race last year with a ninth-place finish on Friday.

There was always time to discuss Mount Marathon during ski season, Romig said.

"He was letting it slip throughout the season that this is probably going to be his last chance, he thinks, to win," he explained. "He didn't say that directly, but he was hinting at it. So, I'm superpsyched he got it."

After falling from his third-place standing a year ago, Knight was pretty excited as well.

Because for him, it was all about enjoying the event of a lifetime.

"Just like anybody, I'm in it to win it," he said. "But I'm here to have fun, too. Have fun is really what I did today."

And after breaking the finish line, some competitors apparently weren't able to wait until next year to try it again.

"It was everything I could have wanted it to be," Romig said. "I'm psyched. I'm going to do it again."

Matthew Carroll can be reached at matthew.carroll@peninsulaclarion.com.