Soldotna’s Megan Youngren won the Anchorage Mayor’s Marathon on Saturday on her 30th birthday.
Youngren finished in 3 hours, 7 minutes and 43 seconds to top the 3:11:41 of Christine Meyer of Brooklyn, New York. Like many of the other runners, Youngren lost time to a black bear on the course. Youngren, who raced in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials in 2020, told the Anchorage Daily News she lost 11 minutes while waiting for the bear to leave the trail.
Also from the peninsula in the women’s marathon, Jeanette Nienaber of Seward was 329th in 5:49:42, Jennifer Thomsen of Kenai was 377th in 7:06:42 and Megan Mitchell of Soldotna was 385th in 7:36:17.
Benjamin Kopecky of St. Louis won the men’s marathon in 2:40:03. From the peninsula, Paul Story of Homer was 92nd in 3:58:51 and Don Connelly of Soldotna was 121st in 4:09:35.
Anna Dalton of Anchorage won the women’s half marathon at 1:21:59. From the peninsula, Frieda Tuttle of Nikiski was 156th in 1:58:54, Jesse Hughes of Soldotna was 445th in 2:32:28, Danielle Akana of Kenai was 521st in 2:46:11, Soldotna’s Loralee Donaldson was 634th in 3:20:28 and Kenai’s Nancy Lafferty ws 682nd in 4:05:30.
Corbyn Jahn of Anchorage won the men’s half marathon in 1:13:36. From the area, Soldotna’s Lee Frey was 11th in 1:29:57, Kenai’s Aaron Bates was 96th in 1:52:08, Seward’s Daniel Meuninck was 109th in 1:53:52 and Soldotna’s Ron Bates was 306th in 2:15:53.
