Beaman wins Hatcher Pass marathon

TALKEETNA MARATHONERS – Talkeetna runners recover after the Hatcher Pass marathon held Saturday along Willow Fishhook Road photo courtesy of Dan Harrell

In her first full marathon, Talkeetna resident Kim Beaman won the women’s division of the first-ever Hatcher Pass marathon held this past weekend.

The race started close to the Parks Highway on Willow Fishhook Raod and traveled over the Hatcher Pass summit, ending close to the Independence Mine State Park entrance.

Beaman says she credits residents Jenny Krepel and Dan Harrell as her inspiration for competing in the marathon.

Both Harrell and Krepel competed in the event as well. There were 30 competitors in the full marathon and another 60 or so in the relay.  Krepel and her son Matthew and friend Brenna Cliver competed in the relay portion of the event.

Harrell came in 11^th in the men’s division, about 9 minutes after Beaman.  Beaman’s time of 4 hours and 2 minutes was a respectable time for a first time marathoner.   Harrell says the event was one of the hardest marathons he has competed in  and said  ‘it was all up hill until the last mile’  He says it may be just as hard as the Crow Pass Crossing held July 23^rd.

Beaman is a fairly new resident to Talkeetna. She ran cross country at Pacific University with local resident Katie Krepel, who invited her to come to Talkeetna.  She started using Talkeetna as her home base in 2009 and spends much of her time as a fisheries observer on boats out of Kodiak.

Beaman said she had been given advice for her first marathon. So, she says she started out slow and halfway through she caught up with the lead woman runner, Jane Lanford.  They both thought there was another woman ahead of them. Beaman says that was good incentive to run faster.

She said she likes running the marathon distance.  Although Beaman has no solid plans for future marathons this summer, she is thinking of entering the Humpy’s marathon held in Anchorage later this summer.