Get notifications about news related to the topics you care about. 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. The 65-year-old was competing as a rookie in the. All rights reserved. While injuries are common and expected, LeMaitre's case was unprecedented. Salt Lake City resident Penny Assman, 34, broke multiple ribs after a similar on-course fall (pictured here). She maintained a 4.0 Grade Point Average at the school. He had already navigated the most dangerous parts of the course. Theres no substitute for actually walking the course, for checking out the chute area and seeing whats best for you, he says. Law enforcement has to place eyes on him, alive and well, McDaniel said. He was last seen at about 6pm by an official who was heading down the mountain. Ipsen said troopers don't yet know if the jawbone found in the mountains belongs to a man or a woman. Its just on the minds of everybody. The mens race was also foggy, but the trail had dried some. At this point, the area was getting foggy and cold but Walsh saw no reason to be concerned about the condition of the runner. GETTING DOWNThe fastest of the field is able to descend the mountain in under five or six minutes. We had a little more snow than usual. MOVING FORWARDThe community of Seward was hit hard. By 9 p.m. a search was in full force. "There are eight people missing'' in the Seward area since 1993, she added, and trooper files hold an unknown number of cases of people who disappeared before that date. Our condolences to his family and friends.. He was very adventurous. The senior went 16:07.50 for 5,000 meters at in the open section of the event at the Penn Relays.. And the race is so risky and dangerous the whole time. He wasnt carrying any water. I think there was a healthy debate about how is this race unsafe, and they added some pretty sound safety measures, it sounds like. [Sign up for Alaska Public Medias daily newsletter to get our top stories delivered to your inbox.]. My dad was in last place. The body of Fred Zalokar, 61, was recovered Tuesday near the peak of Californias 11,527-foot Mount Clark, where he went on a hike Saturday using an off-trail route and did not return, National Park Service officials said in a statement. 65-year-old Michael LeMaitre was competing in the Mount Marathon race in Seward, Alaska, which is south of the city of Anchorage. Its dangerous, so youre not only competing against other people on the mountain, but youre competing to get across the finish line healthy and safe. The Marathon course is a certified Boston qualifier. For this, I knew that I needed to do everything I could. Thats when Anchorage resident Michael LeMaitre went missing while running the race, never to be seen again. [15] She also ran the first-ever high school girls' cross-country 5,000 in less than 16 minutes, in Huntsville, Alabama. And even though the race was short and the trail packed with people, there was a disappearance. [8] But he hadnt been on the mountain before.. Relatives of Zalokar declined to comment Thursday, the Times reported. When the competitive men come down from the top of the mountain to the bottom, theyre descending over 3,000 feet in about five minutes. The Alaska State Troopers announced that they were able to positively identify a body that had been classified as 'missing' for 32 years with the use of DNA evidence. While running the Mount Marathon race in Alaska, Michael LeMaitre disappeared. There are no sweepers that follow the Red Lantern, the last runner down the mountain, to ensure every person has gotten off the mountain. Additional age group awards will be given by RRCA! A few minutes down, theres Denali Falls; it has a 10-foot drop. You can unsubscribe anytime. Park officials did not indicate how he died, but a friend told the. I never went up the mountain on my own, except for the last trip. [The race] was never meant to be a fundraiser for the chamber, he wrote. Starting in downtown Seward, racers run a half-mile to the bottom of Mount Marathon, then scrabble about 2,900 vertical feet straight up cliffs and mud and shale before getting to Race Point, an artificial summit point. What did they tell you nine years later about this? [3][4] Hutchins is an accomplished violinist and has volunteered locally as a youth running coach and at the Johnson City Public Library. Theres no designated trailyou just pick the best line. Thats where [Assman and Kenney] fell. In 2014, Michaels family settled a lawsuit with the Seward Chamber of Commerce. Casey Grove is the host of Alaska News Nightly and a general assignment reporter at Alaska Public Media with an emphasis on crime and courts. It was rainy, it was foggy, and he just never came down the mountain. LeMaitres disappearance changed the way the race operates. They moved to Pflugerville, Texas when she was ten years old, staying a few years, after her father got a work promotion. 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. Zalokar, of Reno, Nevada, was reported missing late Sunday after not returning to Yosemite Valley from his solo trip as planned. CBS News Bay Area: Free 24/7 News CBS Bay Area App After the official searches were called off, she spent over a month walking the mountain and looking for signs. Become a member of StrangeOutdoors for exclusive content, See the latest Exclusive members-only articles on StrangeOutdoors.com, The strange disappearance of Thomas Seibold from Gates of the Arctic National Park, The strange disappearance of Sharon Buis from the Mount Roberts Trail in Alaska, Robert Hansen Butcher Baker - the Alaska Serial killer who hunted his victims in the wilderness, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2186377/Michael-LeMaitres-wife-gives-hope-finding-alive-5-weeks-vanished-extreme-mountain-race.html, https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a20793251/michael-lemaitre-and-the-mount-marathon-race/, https://www.adn.com/crime-justice/article/seward-lemaitre-settle-case-missing-mount-marathon-runner-20000/2014/10/15/, Tagged: Paul Michael LeMaitre - Strange disappearances from U.S. Mountains, Paul LeMaitre disappearance mount marathon, Paul LeMaitre vanished, Paul lemaitre mystery, The perplexing disappearance of Paul Michael LeMaitre from the Mount Marathon race, StrangeOutdoors.com Terms of use/Cookie notice/Privacy Policy, Sign Up now for a one-off fee to get exclusive access to many member-only articles, The disturbing deaths of Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon on their La Pianista Hike in Panama, The mysterious disappearance of Joe Wood from Mount Rainier, The perplexing disappearance of Paul Michael LeMaitre from the Mount Marathon race, Exclusive members-only articles on StrangeOutdoors.com, Paul Michael LeMaitre - Strange disappearances from U.S. Mountains, Paul LeMaitre disappearance mount marathon, The mysterious disappearance and death of Nicola Bulley in Lancashire, The strange disappearance of the YouTube Survivalist Finn Creaney in the Scottish Highlands, The shocking disappearance of Theresa Ann Bier, The strange disappearance of Daniel Robinson from Buckeye in Arizona, The bizarre deaths of the Gerrish family in Devils Gulch, The strange death of Lucas Renoud at the Hrisson waterfalls in the Jura Mountains, The disturbing disappearance of Daylenn Pua from Hawaiis Stairway To Heaven walkway, The puzzling disappearance of ex-paratrooper Gilbert Gilman from Olympic National Park, The Dead man who saved Brandon Day and Gina Allen on Mount San Jacinto, The strange disappearance and death of Geoff Hague in the Great Smoky Mountains, The weird disappearance of Garrett Bardsley from Cuberant Lake in Utah, The bizarre death of Cullen Finnerty in the Michigan wilderness, The puzzling disappearance of Barbara Bolick from the Bitterroot Mountains, The strange disappearance of Mike Hearon from the Great Smoky Mountains, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) report June 2021, The bizarre disappearance and death of Adrienne Quintal in Michigan, The strange disappearance of Fern Baird from the Prairie Peak Trail in Idaho, The strange deaths of David Horesay and Frederick Hardisty in the Northwest Territories, The disappearance of Steven Kubacki in the Lake Michigan Triangle, The lucky survival story of Chris Staff in the White Mountains - hallucinations, bugs and hunger, Mysterious UFO phenomena begins to be acknowledged officially by the US Military, The mysterious disappearance of Michael Bryson from the Hobo Campground in Oregon. 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. Echard says this years race highlighted the need to shrink the field. The race starts in Molt, MT at the Community Center. LeMaitre: The parts that were most dangerous, he had already gone up them. Peggy LeMaitre is no longer holding out hope that her husband is still alive five weeks and multiple searches after he vanished without a trace while running in the popular extreme race. One thought I had was, what if a glove had gotten washed down a stream? 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. The average speed uphill is 2 mph. July 9, 2021 by Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media. And finally, I decided that I needed to go on the mountain by myself, because thats how he did the race. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Thats the reality of it. Officials took a photo of Michael at the halfway point and he was smiling and seemed happy to continue. He could have been buried under the snow. By the end of the day, two were in the hospital with serious injuries and one had vanished. The trail is slippery, almost straight up in places, and treacherous at best. "She has a great work ethic," said Frankie Nunn, head coach of Tennessee High. montanawomensrun . 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. The Mount Marathon Race in Seward took place Wednesday, after a year off due to the pandemic, without reports of any major trouble. It's not uncommon for racers to be injured, running to the. Did he ever reach the summit and turn around? The 2012 race saw broken bones and lacerations for some competitors. Theres a rule that if youre much slower than then most of the runners you have to make it halfway up in one hour, or youll be disqualified. Theriault Boots:They searched, they didnt find anything. Published: Jun. Lucy Letby- Killer Nurse? 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. "Oh my god, Jenna's kicking a**!" Bondi said as she checked Jenna's location from her phone. Distance runner Sarah Thomson has been found safe and well after she went missing at the weekend. He left the ADN in 2015. 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. Clouds were moving in and out, but you could still see Seward at times. Once competitors have reached the summit, the faster ones can make it back down to the ground in under ten minutes. Its in your mind every single day. Clock says LeMaitre was last spotted race day by on-course volunteers around 6 p.m. The Mount Marathon Race in Seward took place Wednesday, after a year off due to the pandemic, without reports of any major trouble. The red lantern in the race from downtown Seward to Race Point high up on Mount Marathon and then back, LeMaitre was last seen just a few hundred feet below the point in 2012. Photo by Carol Grisswold. 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. 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. MaryAnne walked the mountain for weeks, looking for her dad. No trace. LeMaitre was declared legally dead in October 2012 after a court proceeding known as a presumed death trial. Thats when Anchorage resident Michael LeMaitre went missing while running the race, never to be seen again. Peggy originally asked for $5 million in a settlement but both parties agreed to a $20,000 payout. While running the Mount Marathon race in Alaska, Michael LeMaitre disappeared. Sarah Thomson, 28, went missing on Saturday after running 7 marathons in 7 days. When MaryAnne did not hear from her father after the race started on July 4, she knew something was wrong. 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. The following transcript was lightly edited for clarity. Bondi, 23, lives in the Upper East Side and came to root for Jenna. But his disappearance prompted lasting safety changes to the way the race is run. A member of the LeMaitre family said Alaska State Troopers told him it did not appear the partial human jawbone found in the mountains above Tonsina Point south of the city belongs to the 65-year-old who disappeared during the Mount Marathon Race on July 4, 2012.
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