They moved to Pflugerville, Texas when she was ten years old, staying a few years, after her father got a work promotion. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Mount Marathon towers over the community of Seward at the head of Resurrection Bay about 125 miles south of Anchorage. Get access to more than 30 brands, premium video, exclusive content, events, mapping, and more. Missing Florida mother found deceased in Alabama, Where is 4-year-old Codi Bigsby, missing from Hampton, VA, Ill either see you again or never see you again The Disappearance of Daniel Robinson, Destiny Jacksons body was found in the Las Vegas desert after she was killed during a car jacking, Spooky Houses youll be DYING to stay far away from, Suzanne Morphew (49) has been missing since May 10th, 2020 her husband has been arrested, FOUND SAFE- Laura Lacie Read- missing from Midtown, Houston, after her child is found alone, Dr. Beth Potter, her husband, Robin Carre were killed and found in a ditch, Missing Child Alert: Taylor Rose Williams (5) is missing from Jacksonville, Florida. No trace. 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. 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. There are no sweepers that follow the Red Lantern, the last runner down the mountain, to ensure every person has gotten off the mountain. He says a smaller field could prevent the already precarious course from becoming overcrowded and compromising runners ability to choose the safest path down the mountain. All rights reserved. Two other runners sustained serious injuries in this years race. LeMaitre: Any time that Ive experienced anything like thisfriends who have gotten into car accidents and died, losing my grandmother to illnessthere was closure for that. She says, If youre not very capable and/or very familiar with the route, the cliff area and the scree can be dangerous.. [14] Hutchins was selected as Athlete of the Week by USA Track & Field as a result. My dad was in last place. It's been a tough past year navigating the pandemic, and. I wanted to go up and see what decisions my dad would have made. But there was no sign of Michael. History Channel | Thursday, 21 June 2018 | 10:10. 2023 Anchorage Daily News. An old kayak missing from the yard at Miller's Landing, a resort at the end of the road, led to speculation she might have paddled off into Resurrection Bay, but she could just as easily headed down the trail to Tonsina Creek. Yeaton has been nursing an. [4], Hutchins was named the 20192020 Tennessee Girls Cross Country Gatorade Player of the Year, winning the Footlocker South Regional Cross Country Championships in 16:54,[5] She was ranked 9th in the nation at the mile, with a time of 4:43.33, and fifth at two miles, in 10:25.01. Mt. Missing in Alaska (2015) Mystery, Reality show | United States. The note, they added, expressed "her depression.''. Its not uncommon for racers to be injured, running to the top of 3,022-foot Mount Marathon and back down again. At about 200 feet from the summit, one of the race officials heading down says he saw my dad, and he was still headed up. If he did turn 180 degrees in the wrong direction, he would then need to descend extremely steep and rough terrain on the south side of Mount Marathon, cross Lowell Creek, make a difficult climb up the Bear Mountain ridge, drop off it into the Spruce Creek drainage, climb yet another high ridge, and then drop into the Tonsina drainage. He confirmed he was doing fine. Entrants are almost all Alaskans. This article originally appeared in our October, 2012 issue. 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. 12 Sep. 2015. Nine years on, what happened to LeMaitre is still a mystery. Alaska Public Media 2023. What did they tell you nine years later about this? [10] At 16, she took the women's 5000 at the Five & Dime Athletics Meeting in South Carolina with a time of 15:34.47. If you would be willing to assist in the search for Michael LeMaitre, please contact the Seward Volunteer Fire Department via their webpage. Zalokar, of Reno, Nevada, was reported missing late Sunday after not returning to Yosemite Valley from his solo trip as planned. There have been promises of changes to the race, but the danger is an undeniable feature of a century-old tradition that had never seen this kind of trauma. And theres just never been a trace of him found. I chose to come down the cliffs in a crabwalk its so steephand, hand, foot, foot. At around 5.45 pm on the day of the race, Tom Walsh, a race steward, saw Michael ascending to the turnaround point with about 200 feet to go. Update the categories youd like to receive notifications about. Going off in the wrong direction, falling off, landslides, bear activitythere are so many things that could have happened and just nothing to go on. While running the Mount Marathon race in Alaska, Michael LeMaitre disappeared. 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. Theyre not running, theyre free-falling. On July 4, 2012, an Anchorage man named Michael LeMaitre went missing as he competed in Mount Marathon, the grueling Seward footrace typically held on the Fourth of July each year. Peggy originally asked for $5 million in a settlement but both parties agreed to a $20,000 payout. This was an extreme event and he was last seen on July 4, 2012 about 200 feet from the top of Mount Marathon, a 3022 feet high peak. MaryAnne walked the mountain for weeks, looking for her dad. And the race is so risky and dangerous the whole time. 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. It's not uncommon for racers to be injured, running to the. A team of hikers will sweep the mountain after the competition to look for potential laggards. The senior went 16:07.50 for 5,000 meters at in the open section of the event at the Penn Relays.. Every year on the 4th of July, hundreds of people descend on the town of Seward, Alaska for the Mount Marathon race. He was apparently fit and healthy, having been a regular visitor to the gym and had finished a 12K event a month earlier, but despite the warning, he had never visited the course and he chose to continue. Several years since Michael disappeared, not one piece of physical evidence has surfaced. Once you get to halfway, theres no more brush: its just exposed rock and loose shale. LeMaitre: The parts that were most dangerous, he had already gone up them. [12] 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. "She has a great work ethic," said Frankie Nunn, head coach of Tennessee High. Correction: The photo caption on this story has been updated to correct the year Michael LeMaitre went missing to 2012. Im never going to be a professional runner, and Im never going to be a racecar driver or a rodeo person, but this is my chance to push that edge. Paul Michael LeMaitre, disappeared July 4, 2012, Mount Marathon, Seward, Alaska. Ipsen said troopers don't yet know if the jawbone found in the mountains belongs to a man or a woman. The serious risk of major injury or death is why the event isn't open to just anyone. LeMaitre: The biggest factor was the record snowthe trail conditions were unlike anything they had seen beforeice underneath. She focuses on in-depth stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. All rights reserved. So that I think is discouraging of people who are going to be taking four or five, six hours much longer to complete the race. Unusually, in this 2012 event, three people were hurt, including one man who suffered serious head injuries. Heading out the door? LeMaitre: I just dont know if theres a chance of finding him. We looked at eagle activity, bear activity. not a marathon, definitely intense! 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. Park officials did not indicate how he died, but a friend told the. 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. Its not the opposite side of the mountain, but its a different face. Michelle Theriault Boots:During that race, it was terrible weather. ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The wife of a 65-year-old Anchorage man who disappeared while participating in the 2012 Mount Marathon extreme mountain race in Seward has sued the organization that hosts There was plenty of daylight left and Michael asked if he could continue on to finish the race. "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. 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. Casey Grove: And you took these questions back to the authorities. No trail, an Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman said at the time. After a while, its like, maybe we should poke around in the bear scat. He is the races first fatality since it began in 1915. She ran there and doubled as a forward and midfielder in soccer. Jenna Leigh Challenor (born 6 July 1981) is a South African long-distance runner.She competed in the marathon event at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London, UK, finishing 59th.. She was never found and remains among the missing in the area. Then you drop into a creek bed. Clouds were moving in and out, but you could still see Seward at times. 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. Michaels eyesight was failing but he thought he was capable enough to finish the race. But he hadnt been on the mountain before. And finally, I decided that I needed to go on the mountain by myself, because thats how he did the race. Searchers worried that if he wasnt already injured, he probably had hypothermia because of his light clothing, exhaustion and the freezing weather. But according to OutsideOnline, it's tough: 'The race, which has been run as an organized event since 1915, is a beast, with a 3,022-foot vertical gain and loss over icy and treacherous mountain terrain, where runners pick their own way upand downthe average 38-degree slope.'. Sarah Thomson, 28, went missing on Saturday after running 7 marathons in 7 days. I wanted to do something at the top of the mountain, so I brought a Dremel tool and left a message: I love you dad. I engraved that on a rock. Fort Valley State University student Missing Where is Anitra Gunn? This year, it had rained the night before, so it made the race really slick and muddy for the juniors. But according to OutsideOnline, its tough: The race, which has been run as an organized event since 1915, is a beast, with a 3,022-foot vertical gain and loss over icy and treacherous mountain terrain, where runners pick their own way upand downthe average 38-degree slope.. Fink: Had you asked me whether someone could go missing during Mount Marathon, I would have said, impossible. THE STARTBibs have typically been limited to 350 men, 350 women, and 200 juniors, but this year the race was expanded to accommodate 400 in each of the mens and womens races. Delta variant wasnt detected in Alaska until a few weeks ago. The 65-year-old was competing as a rookie in the. The One Subscription to Fuel All Your Adventures. It's not uncommon for racers to be injured, running to the. Alaska Public Media is our partner station in Anchorage. By the end of the day, two were in the hospital with serious injuries and one had vanished. Or Hospital Scapegoat? The top finishers are under 45 minutes. 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.