Records fell at the annual Mount Marathon Race in Seward on Monday. His disappearance was especially striking because he had been participating in an event that each year draws tens of thousands of spectators to Seward, and hundreds of runners onto the mountain itself. Photo by Carol Grisswold. It was about 8 p.m. local time on July 4 when Seward, Alaskas Fire Department received word that 66-year-old Michael LeMaitre of Anchorage, was missing. LeMaitre: I was told it was overcast. Matthew Kenney, 41, of Anchorage, continues to make a slow recovery after a fall from a cliff ledge on the course left him in a coma and with a compound leg fracture. A world-renowned endurance athlete who went missing in California's Yosemite National Park has been found dead. Miller is among 3,988 people reported missing in Alaska in 2002 and one of the 217 who remain missing, according to Alaska State Troopers. Marathon. A team of hikers will sweep the mountain after the competition to look for potential laggards. Calls to her for this story went unanswered. She was ranked third indoors in the U.S. at 1600m, running 4:48.10, fifth in the mile at 4:45.12, and 5th at 1500m at 4:26.77. The race is short, only three miles long. Zalokar is survived by his wife, Deb, and their son, Ian, according to the Reno Gazette Journal. Finally, I came to my realization that I needed to figure out what had happened to my dad. There was an extensive search, his bereaved family also continued to search. One thought I had was, what if a glove had gotten washed down a stream? [Sign up for Alaska Public Medias daily newsletter to get our top stories delivered to your inbox.]. Download the app. . You can unsubscribe anytime. Grove: What do you think this story tells people about Alaska or about what happened to this guy? The crowd cheered when Matt Novakovich won the 3.5-mile race in less than 45 minutes . Entrants are almost all Alaskans. Mountain rescue experts, firemen, state troopers, search dogs and LeMaitres family spent thousands of hours searching the area but without a single clue being found. The race changed as a result of the disappearance. Fink: You start in downtown Seward, 4th avenue, and the street is all lined with spectators. Hours later, search and rescue teams were called onto the mountain at around 8 pm by his wife Peggy with temperatures falling and rain worsening. AFTER THE RACEOn July 5th, MaryAnne LeMaitre boarded a plane in Salt Lake City and went to Seward to look for her dad. But theres also a trail that continues, and it would have been very easy for him to keep going on that trail. More about series. All we need is just one little thing to go on. LeMaitre: People in Seward took care of me. There was plenty of daylight left and Michael asked if he could continue on to finish the race. Let us know in the form at the bottom of the story. Or remains need to be found.. Theres no designated trailyou just pick the best line. It was a new (pending) national high school record,[11] and also the new American youth (under 18) best, American junior (under 20) outdoor standard[12] and the North American junior record. Zalokar, of Reno, Nevada, was reported missing late Sunday after not returning to Yosemite Valley from his solo trip as planned. I think that vastness and the proximity of that vastness to town and to thousands of people and spectators, that you could be gone without a trace while there are hundreds of runners and thousands of spectators, like a mile less than a mile away from you, is just a reminder for Alaskans of that very thin line we live in between our little patches of town and kind of infinite wilderness and the dangers of that. A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. I have spent a lot of time on the mountain; I know my route very clearly. The mystery of what happened to LeMaitre is the subject of the Anchorages Daily News Curious Alaska column this week. And potential participants should practice [the course]., Womens winner Holly Brooks, also of Anchorage, contends that the risk involved is simply a part of the race. Echard says this years race highlighted the need to shrink the field. Brandon Lawson The 911 call that led to a mysterious disappearance. Queen Bee Montana Marathon - new name - Same Fast Courses! A pickup truck belonging to 35-year-old Kristin Snyder, an Anchorage environmental consultant, was found in the parking lot not far from the start of that trail in February 2003. [15] She also ran the first-ever high school girls' cross-country 5,000 in less than 16 minutes, in Huntsville, Alabama. As of August 2019, no trace of Michael has been found. He never showed up. Box 2530 :: Billings, MT 59103 406-255-8488 2023 Montana Women's Run. Perhaps he fell off a cliff or fell into a crevice never to be seen again? At 11 a.m., nearly 350 women gathered behind the start line. The junior trail is probably the safest of the threebut its dangerous as well, just cut into the side of the mountain, very steep and narrowtrees, roots to negotiate, and it gets very slick. Once you get to halfway, theres no more brush: its just exposed rock and loose shale. Clock says the race organizers might consider incorporating cutoff times, but that ultimately, racers assume a certain risk when they run up and down a mountain. The incidents left Seward struggling to understand how a runner could disappear on a course thats only a few miles long. But he hadnt been on the mountain before.. The chutes had snow bridges on them that have been collapsing all summer. Unfortunately, it was not to be! Around 1 p.m., the sun shone through the trees and leaves crinkled under huge crowds of runners' feet. The 2012 race saw broken bones and lacerations for some competitors. Karol Fink: Its a bit mysteriousthe feel of it. An accomplished runner and mountain climber was found dead in Yosemite National Park days after he went missing, officials said. But probably the best known missing person case in wild Alaska involves 66-year-old Michael LeMaitre of Anchorage who went up Mount Marathon on July 4, 2012 and never came down. There was no one there to give him any direction. It's not uncommon for racers to be injured, running to the. MaryAnne walked the mountain for weeks, looking for her dad. There were checkpoints with water along the way, but Michael was seemingly unaware that due to his slower pace, they had all been packed up. And the race is so risky and dangerous the whole time. Fink: Had you asked me whether someone could go missing during Mount Marathon, I would have said, impossible. Peggy originally asked for $5 million in a settlement but both parties agreed to a $20,000 payout. What happened to LeMaitre? Primate sightings in the Alaskan woods have the team puzzled, since experts say that monkeys have never lived in Alaska. He was definitely physically fit. He didnt make it up Mount Everest, but he tried it, Crom said. LeMaitre was running Mount Marathon for the first time. Published: Jun. For this, I knew that I needed to do everything I could. Clock says LeMaitre was last spotted race day by on-course volunteers around 6 p.m. Earlier that day, LeMaitre had started his first Mount Marathon Race, a grueling 5K that climbs to the 3022-foot Mount Marathon peak above Seward, Alaska, before plunging down a dangerous descent where runners choose their own route over rocky footing and past several cliffs. He won the lottery for getting into the race, and that was it. It was rainy, it was foggy, and he just never came down the mountain. You see people coming down off the mountain. 65-year-old Michael LeMaitre was competing in the Mount Marathon race in Seward, Alaska, which is south of the city of Anchorage. Did he ever reach the summit and turn around? In December, as a sophomore, Hutchins finished fifth in the Footlocker national cross country championship race. If my dad had fallen in one of those chutes and a snow bridge had collapsed over him, the infrared helicopters wouldnt have been able to find him. | Alaska Insight, Litter of wolverine kits brings adorable triple threat to Alaska Zoo. Prior to the race this year, former race director Chuck Echard had written a letter to the Seward Phoenix Log expressing his opinion that the race field should be decreasedthe event, he contended, wasnt for everyone. But I think theres a lot of people who still very much want to know what happened to Michael LeMaitre. I guess I always thought this was a process that only happened after several years, or when concrete evidence supporting the missing person is deceased surfaced. The 65-year-old was competing as a rookie in the. 21, 2019 at 7:04 PM PDT. I guess I'm headed down the rabbit hole now. What happened? If new clues or evidence is discovered Troopers would evaluate new search efforts, he said. He literally vanished off the mountain. At that point, you have an entire mountain, and you have no limiting factor. Ravens. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Miracle in ice: Indian mountain climber found alive days after falling into crevasse, Famed Irish mountain climber dies descending from peak in Nepal, Triple-amputee soldier climbs Kilimanjaro to deliver a burger, Lost a dear friend: Adventurer crushed to death saving climber after huge ice column splits. Army grounds aviators for training after fatal crashes in Alaska and Kentucky, How do electric vehicles perform in Alaska? He wasnt carrying any water. Race organizers instituted a number of new safety measures in 2013, including mandatory signed statements from runners that theyve completed training runs on the course, a one-hour time limit for racers to reach the summit, and sweeps of the mountain by volunteers after each wave of the race. According to Squires, Some operations continued until July 15. South Africa at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics Whenever I asked for help, someone always said yes. Once competitors have reached the summit, the faster ones can make it back down to the ground in under ten minutes. MOVING FORWARDThe community of Seward was hit hard. Every year on the 4th of July, hundreds of people descend on the town of Seward, Alaska for the Mount Marathon race. All rights reserved. (Photo by Luke Rosier). While running the Mount Marathon race in Alaska, Michael LeMaitre disappeared. Get access to more than 30 brands, premium video, exclusive content, events, mapping, and more. The general belief now is that LeMaitre, who'd never been to the point, followed an obvious trail past the turnaround rocks there and disappeared into the Kenai Mountains to the west. He is the races first fatality since it began in 1915. Race organisers take no responsibility for Michaels disappearance: Race volunteers spoke with Mr. LeMaitre as he was approaching the turnaround point and let him know the race was over, the statement said. Jenna Hutchins (born March 25, 2004),[1] is a high school and "Under 20" record-breaking American long distance runner from Johnson City, Tennessee. Disappearance on Mount Marathon On July 4, 2012, runners gathered in Seward, Alaska, for a three-mile trail race up the mountain that looms 3,000 feet over Resurrection Bay. Heading out the door? Additional age group awards will be given by RRCA! Race organisers take no responsibility for Michaels disappearance: Missing mom & baby- Gabriella Harkness Located, Bizarre Stories from the Alaska Triangle Successscan, Bizarre Stories from the Alaska Triangle Mid American News. When you get to the top, most racers go around. Participants who dont make it a halfway-point within one hour are disqualified, and race sweepers now follow the last runner to the top of the mountain and back down, said race director Matias Saari. In 2014, the Seward Chamber of Commerce settled with the family for a payment of $25,000. In the 1980s, when Echard was director, the senior mens and womens field was capped at 200; this year, it was 375. As ADN reporter Michelle Theriault Boots told Alaska Public Medias Casey Grove, race volunteers were the last people to see LeMaitre near the top of the mountain. They show crashes, people on backboards and lots of blood.. While injuries are common and expected, LeMaitre's case was unprecedented. The Troopers announced that they identified the remains of Ronald Oquilluk using DNA from his sister. It does get a bit grim. And then also, Michael LeMaitre had not been up and down the course ever before he raced. What did they tell you nine years later about this? Hed kind of pick a goal and go after it hard.. 65-year-old Michael LeMaitre was competing in the Mount Marathon race in Seward, Alaska, which is south of the city of Anchorage. I know its fascinating to me, the overwhelming scale and power of the wilderness and how close we live to it and how close we all tried that line. An Instagram murder - Brandon Clark and Bianca Devins, Gannon Stauch Murder Trial - Daily Updates, Jenna Van Gelderen and the missing Egyptian tapestry, The Missing, Murdered and Reunited of Runaway Train, UPDATE: 11 year old Gannon Stauch missing from Colorado Springs - remains have been found in Florida, The Ultimate Guide to the Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell case. Alaska Public Media 2023. The body of the 61-year-old, who had been missing since Saturday, was recovered on Tuesday near the summit of Mount Clark, the National Park Service said. Alyse Bondi, Jenna's close friend from Cornell, said Jenna loves to run. One of the organisers of the race, Karol Fink, said that in the months before the big day, there had been unusual amounts of snow We had a little more snow than usual. Fred would be the one to climb up on the technical part and throw a rope down to the rest of us, Sean Crom told the newspaper of Zalokar, whom he met while training for a 100-mile ultramarathon decades earlier. Her personal best times are 1:14:19 in the half marathon (2014); and 2:36:50 in the marathon (2020). LeMaitre: I had a tough time thinking about when to leave. She ranked within the global top 100 for 5000 metres athletes in 2020. Later in that year of 2012, he was declared legally dead through a court proceeding called a presumed death trial, which is a way for families whove lost someone in a fishing boat accident or a plane crash, where remains are not going to be recoverable to have their loved one legally declared deceased so they can move on with settling estates and insurance and things like that. LeMaitre: The biggest factor was the record snowthe trail conditions were unlike anything they had seen beforeice underneath. Emmanuel Macron changes phone and number after reports of Dad of crying infant that triggered Texas massacre 'never thought' gunman would shoot, It's not just soda: Nutritionists weigh in on the absolute worst drinks for your health, ABC airs NYC footage with Twin Towers during Knicks-Heat game, Gayle King says she doesnt have a desire to retire: I want more work, WNBA star Brittney Griner is heading to the Met Gala, Mariah Carey celebrates Moroccan and Monroes 12th birthday: My babies, NY Post Sports Reporter Zach Braziller breaks down the Knicks game 1 loss to the Heat, Elon Musk Tells Bill Maher Woke Mind Virus Is Dangerous On Real Time, Kendall Jenner rocks sheer top, fur mini skirt for date night with Bad Bunny. Since all the snow hadnt melted out from the creek bed, there were some snow bridges that you had to cross that were really creepy. The Marathon course is a certified Boston qualifier. 2023 Anchorage Daily News. No clothing has been spotted and no human remains have been discovered . Rookies must attest to having scouted the mountain ahead of time. The mountain is so close to townyou can hear the announcer all the way up. He left the ADN in 2015. He had already navigated the most dangerous parts of the course. Submissions should outline a mystery and provide a link to a more detailed review of the case such as a Wiki article or news report. Her husband of 43 years, Michael LeMaitre, was last seen on July 4, about 200 feet from the top of Mount Marathon in Seward, south of Anchorage. Park officials did not indicate how he died, but a friend told the New York Times Thursday he had fallen. disappeared during the Mount Marathon Race. [2], Hutchins lived in Johnson City, but the family also lived just across the border in North Carolina. The key point here is that during the race, they typically have race officials at the top of the mountain and all along the course. Lingit Aani Kaa Kei Nas.ax Haa Yoo Xatangi, the Anchorage Daily News Curious Alaska column, https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/8-Michelle-Theriault-int.mp3. Paul Michael LeMaitre, disappeared July 4, 2012, Mount Marathon, Seward, Alaska. Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Every year on July 4th, hundreds of burly mountain runners climb a punishing 3,022 ft in under a mile to Race Point on Mount Marathon and back down into Seward. Every Mount Marathon rookie is required to watch a graphic safety video the night before the race. Clouds were moving in and out, but you could still see Seward at times. The Mount Marathon Race in Seward took place Wednesday, after a year off due to the pandemic, without reports of any major trouble. The 66-year-old businessman and grandfather was last seen about three hours into the race, climbing just shy of the races turnaround point at an elevation of about 3,000 feet. In February, she finished 4th in the Millrose Games indoor mile, setting a state indoor record at 15-years-old. I chose to come down the cliffs in a crabwalk its so steephand, hand, foot, foot.. [3][4] Hutchins is an accomplished violinist and has volunteered locally as a youth running coach and at the Johnson City Public Library. I hope with the foliage being goneit had been super thick when I was therethat we can start looking again. I wonder how his wife managed to have him declared dead barely 3 months after he went missing. [The race] was never meant to be a fundraiser for the chamber, he wrote. It rained the night before the 2012 race and the trail was slick and muddy. The body of Fred Zalokar, 61, was recovered Tuesday near the 11,527-foot summit of Mount Clark, a press . The Half Marathon has been selected by RRCA as the Montana State Championship Race. Unusually, in this 2012 event, three people were hurt, including one man who suffered serious head injuries. New rules were instituted, including one that says runners now must sign a pledge saying theyve completed the roughly 3-mile race course at least once prior to race day. Iraq war veteran and Blackhawk pilot Penny Assman slid over a cliff, lacerating her liver and breaking several ribs; an Alaskan runner named Matthew Kenney fell at the same spot and suffered broken legs and brain damage. Download the app. But most accidents happen on the way down. [6], During her sophomore year in 20182019, she won the Tennessee Gatorade Female Track & Field Player of the Year award, earning her the opportunity as a part of Gatorade's "Play it Forward cause marketing platform," to award a $1,000 grant to her choice of a local or national youth sports organization, and duplicated the honors in 2020 and 2021. A missing runner. Lucy Letby- Killer Nurse? Rangers at Yosemite National Park are asking for the public's help in the search for a marathon runner who went missing on a hike over the weekend. Still, Echard echoes the advice that newcomers can cut their risk dramatically if they simply check out the coursein personahead of time. There hasnt been any wish to change things unless its a safety concern. There was still quite a bit of daylight left, and my dad asked if he could still continue up to finish the race. Next was the womens race, and it was a pleasant temperature, in the low 60s, with a little bit of fog blowing in and out in strips. Create a personalized feed and bookmark your favorites. But anything could have happened. Park officials said in a statement that the body of Fred Zalokar, 61, from Reno . A jogger vanishes from the top of Mt Marathon in Alaska and a witness describes seeing a monstrous, airplane-sized raptor around the time of the disappearance . Welcome to Seward for the 93rd running of the Mount Marathon Race, the oldest mountain race in North America and possibly its craziest! Back to Top . Thats one of my fears, that if Im not looking, no ones looking. [8] It was rainy, but it didnt sound like it was raining all the time. Family losing hope of finding missing runner on Mount Marathon SI Staff Aug 9, 2012 ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Peggy LeMaitre no longer holds out hope that her husband is alive five weeks -. The. Theres no substitute for actually walking the course, for checking out the chute area and seeing whats best for you, he says. Theres a rule that if youre much slower than most of the runners, you have to make it halfway up in one hour, or youll be disqualified. Ipsen said troopers don't yet know if the jawbone found in the mountains belongs to a man or a woman. The community is pretty heartbroken about it, and so many have reminded me that people are going to keep looking. Jenna Hutchins (born March 25, 2004), is a high school and "Under 20" record-breaking American long distance runner from Johnson City, Tennessee. The race, which is notorious for its extreme nature, covers approximately 3 miles of difficult terrain up and back down the Mount. He was very adventurous. Youve heard of Tough Mudder and the Spartan Race, but every Fourth of July, the town of Seward, Alaska, hosts a competition that rivals both. By 2 am, an Alaska State Troopers helicopter equipped with infrared radar was scanning the mountain. The race, which is notorious for its extreme nature, covers approximately 3 miles of difficult terrain up and back down the Mount. No trail, an Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman said at the time. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The mystery of what happened to LeMaitre is the subject ofthe Anchorage Daily News Curious Alaska columnthis week. Searchers worried that if he wasnt already injured, he probably had hypothermia because of his light clothing, exhaustion and the freezing weather. The senior went 16:07.50 for 5,000 meters at in the open section of the event at the Penn Relays.. Update the categories youd like to receive notifications about. The 2012 race saw broken bones and lacerations for some competitors. Join Outside+ to get access to exclusive content, 1,000s of training plans, and more. And now, if you do Mount Marathon, you have to attest publicly, you have to sign something like in a public room full of other racers that says that you have been up and down the whole course. Is The High Lonesome 100 The Future of Ultrarunning Equity? Do we advocate for complete personal responsibility, or do race organizers have authority to begin dictating the course? We looked at eagle activity, bear activity. But what happened in the 2012 Mount Marathon Race really stands out in Alaska lore. I think that vastness and the proximity of that vastness to town and to thousands of people and spectators, that you could be gone without a trace while there are hundreds of runners and thousands of spectators, like a mile less than a mile away from you, is just a reminder for Alaskans of that very thin line we live in between our little patches of town and kind of infinite wilderness and the dangers of that. While he was still heading up the mountain, the officials at checkpoints along the way were packing up. Walsh asked LeMaitre for his bib number and he replied Five-four-eight, and as he descended back towards the town he texted race officials: Bib number 548 would be home in about an hour and a half. See also. The mountain is always there. The mountain swallowed this man, a relative told Runners World journalist Christopher Solomon for an extensive article about the case in 2016. To get from where he was last seen in 2012 to where the jawbone was found would require that he first make a left turn off the Mount Marathon ridge when he knew a right turn was required to pick up the trail down. I want to inspire people to dream big and go out there and make it happen!. So hes been legally dead for almost nine years now. CBS News Bay Area: Free 24/7 News CBS Bay Area App I chose to come down the cliffs in a crabwalk its so steephand, hand, foot, foot. By the end of the. Now its 40% of samples. Casey Grove:And you took these questions back to the authorities. Footlocker national cross country championship race, Jenna Hutchins Talks One Last Race, XC And The Maze Runner, SCIENCE HILL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT-ATHLETE NAMED GATORADE TENNESSEE GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER OF THE YEAR, Science Hill distance star Jenna Hutchins NET female athlete of the year, Science Hills Hutchins leaves larger-than-life mark on area running, 20192020 TENNESSEE GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY PLAYER OF THE YEAR, A run of success: victories, records and awards piling up for Hutchins, Jenna Hutchins Emerges As The Fastest HS 5000 Runner Ever, Jenna Hutchins Adds to Her Record Collection, Breaking the U20 5K Record, Hutchins, Moore earn USATF Athlete of the Week honors, Video Jenna Hutchins BREAKS the Girl's Highschool and U20 5k record + Interview 15:34.47, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jenna_Hutchins&oldid=1091711455, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 5 June 2022, at 22:16. GETTING DOWNThe fastest of the field is able to descend the mountain in under five or six minutes. Oquilluk, 38-years-old at the . After troopers stopped their search, family continued. The discovery of human remains near Seward has sparked speculation that the body of Michael LeMaitre, possibly the state's most famous missing person, has been found, but that appears unlikely. S1, Ep7. He was last seen at about 6pm by an official who was heading down the mountain. Then you pop out back out and have to decide whether to take the junior trail, the cliffs, or the waterfall, which is 20 feet out, 70 feet down. History Channel | Thursday, 21 June 2018 | 10:10. Race volunteers headed down the mountain told him to make the turn and follow them to the finish. We spoke separately to Karol Fink, a Mount Marathon organizer and 19-year race veteran who ran this year, and to MaryAnne LeMaitre, whose father has yet to be found. But what happened in the 2012 Mount Marathon Race really stands out in Alaska lore. Matthew Kenney and Penny Assman both fell over the same section of trail, known as the waterfall.. LeMaitres story attracted widespread media attention, becoming one of the most well-known in a grimly extensive list of Alaskans whove disappeared into wilderness landscapes without a trace.
Anthony Gray Obituary,
Behr Color Visualizer Upload Photo,
Articles M
