Thomas O’Harra and Klaire Rhodes won the Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb on Sunday. The race is over 3 miles and rises 3,400 feet. There is no downhill portion in the race.
O’Harra is from Anchorage and skis for Alaska Pacific University’s Nordic Ski Center, but the other two Anchorage runners in the top three have Kenai Peninsula ties. O’Harra won at 39 minutes, 23 seconds, while Lars Arneson, a 2009 graduate of Cook Inlet Academy, was second at 39:52 and Galen Hecht, who lived on the central peninsula last year before moving to Anchorage, finished third at 41:13.
Also from the peninsula in the men’s race, Seward’s Erik Johnson was 17th at 45:23, Seward’s Pyper Dixon was 25th at 47:07, Seward’s Collin Atkinson was 38th in 49:49, Seward’s Trevor Kreznar was 58th in 53:51, Seward’s Sam Young was 99th in 1:06:43, Seward’s Eugen Bentler was 109th in 1:10:59, Seward’s Fred Moore was 129th in 1:21:32 and Seward’s Tommy Cronin was 135th in 1:31:41.
Rhodes won the women’s race at 46:53, with Palmer’s Meg Inokuma taking second at 47:15, Seward’s Ruby Lindquist taking third at 49:04 and Seward’s Hannah Lafleur taking fourth at 49:27. Also in the top 10, Anchorage’s Denali Strabel, a Seward graduate, was sixth in 51:14 and Soldotna’s Megan Youngren was seventh in 51:57.
Also from the peninsula, Cooper Landing’s Cory Route was 17th in 57:10, Seward’s Rachel Dow was 18th in 57:20, Seward’s Cara Wallschlaeger was 23rd in 58:10, Seward’s Shelby Sieminski was 38th in 1:00:59, Seward’s Kristen Sieminski was 56th in 1:08:04, Seward’s Jennifer Anderson was 63rd in 1:10:24, Soldotna’s Sondra Stonecipher was 68th in 1:13:51, Seward’s Hallie Bergwall was 78th in 1:16:47, Seward’s Natalie Sieminski was 83rd in 1:21:34 and Seward’s Phyllis Shoemaker was 87th in 1:27:36.
