Wilderness Unsurprisingly Impedes Insane Wilderness Marathon

Eric Strabel was on pace to shatter the record of the Crow Pass Crossing wilderness marathon in the Chugach Mountain region of Alaska when a bear "surprised him on the trail." Then he got lost. Then a moose blocked the trail. The Crow Pass marathon is a 24-mile sprint through mountains and forests in Alaska. The trail that is used for the race is—by several accounts—a two-day hike for experienced hikers. Eric Strabel finished this year's in 2:59:41 and didn't even win. On top of having to deal with the flora and fauna, he had to deal with being on a freaking mountain. He suffered a "hard tumble onto rocks that left him with a bloody ear, a bloody shin and bloody hands." So, let's recap: Strabel had to navigate around a—quite likely—hungry and pissed off bear, his own puzzling lack of direction, a stubborn moose and falling onto rocks and he still finished in second place, five minutes behind Geoff Roes, his main rival on the ultra-marathon circuit who had his own moose problems to deal with? These guys make Timothy Treadwell and Christopher McCandless seem like they had their heads straight.

Bear, moose confront Crow Pass runners [Anchorage Daily News]