JTRR Mount Roberts Trail Challenge Run 1990 Event Page

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1990 Events Mount Roberts Trail Challenge Run Full Screen
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Event Name Mount Roberts Trail Challenge Run
Location Franklin Street, downtown Juneau to the cross on Mount Roberts
Description Distance: 3.1 miles, climbing 2,000 feet above sea level. There is no set course between the start and the finish.
Location: start in front of the Foggy Mountain Shop on Franklin Street, downtown Juneau; finish at the cross above the tree line on Mount Roberts
Course: runners enter the trail at the top of Sixth Street on Starr Hill and may choose their own route from Franklin Street to that point, provided it avoids private property. Runners are asked to stay off the worn short cuts where the established trail switches back.
Start Time: 9:00 AM. Registration in the shop from 8:30 AM, closing at 8:55 sharp.
Registration Fee: 9 dollars, including a T-shirt for the first 50 to register
Sponsored by the Foggy Mountain Shop. Runners under 18 must pre-register and have an adult sign for them. Arrange for someone to meet you at the top with warm clothing, food and liquids. A race in the Empire Cup Runners Series.
History The 1990 Mount Roberts Trail Challenge Run, Saturday 28 July, from Franklin Street in downtown Juneau to the cross at the tree line, 2,000 feet up.

Ben Van Alen took 29 minutes 20 seconds to make the climb, 38 seconds faster than Rick Thibodeau - the Empire noted it as Thibodeau's first loss to a Juneau runner that season. Thibodeau in turn barely edged Steve Schmitz, who finished a stride back at the cross overlooking Gastineau Channel. Shelly James won the women's side in 35:17, from Betsy Fischer and Dawn Rider.

An unprecedented field of 72 runners, aged 8 to 61, took part. The Empire put the previous high at 47, the year before, and said fourteen ran the inaugural in 1986 - both figures agree exactly with what this archive holds for those two years. Van Alen was described as the only runner to have taken part in all five runnings.

The trail was muddy from overnight rain, though race day itself was overcast and dry. The course was slightly longer than in past years, because short cuts had been flagged off or blocked with brush to stem erosion on the steep sections; runners afterwards guessed it 30 to 90 seconds slower than usual. "Erosion of this popular trail is a problem that has been brought up in the past, so this year we are attempting to find a solution," said the organiser, Betsy Fischer, who also finished second among the women.

Going in, the Empire gave the men's course record as 26:38, set by Steve Schmitz the year before, and the women's as 31:35, by Nancy Pease in 1986. Neither was approached on the longer course.

"This is a rugged run. We strongly suggest that anyone who has never run the course walk it before Saturday. It's harder than one might think," Fischer said.

SOURCES: the preview, "Mt. Roberts Run toughest of year" by Richard F. Schmitz, Juneau Empire; the report, "Van Alen wins Mt. Roberts run", Monday 30 July 1990, page 9; the finish list on the same page; and a photograph by Jane Cassady of ten-year-old Caroline Gerken reaching the cross, first among runners aged 13 and under.

NOTES ON THE LIST. The 3.1 miles recorded here is the length the club holds for this climb, carried over from the 1986 and 1991 runnings rather than supplied for 1990 itself. Two caveats belong with it. The Empire wrote that distance on this course "is measured in feet above sea level instead of miles or kilometers, there's no set course, except for the start and finish", since runners pick their own line up to the top of Sixth Street. And the 1990 course was longer than usual, so the paces shown here will read a little slow.

The archive holds 1986, 1989, 1990 and 1991 of this race. If Van Alen ran all five years to 1990, then 1987 and 1988 were held and are simply missing here.
Race Director DefaultRaceDirector Unassigned
Date and Time 1990-07-28 09:00:00
Relay/Team Events? no
Empire Cup yes
SERR Event yes
Registration Form Registration Form
information / results Distance Entrants Comments
To the Cross 3.1 miles 72
Thank you!1
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2003 29 entries
2002 31 entries
2001 28 entries
2000 26 entries
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1986 14 entries
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