The 98th Mount Marathon Race runs Saturday, sending runners 1.5 miles up and back down the peak that rises directly behind town over Resurrection Bay. Men and women cover the full mountain. Juniors turn around at the halfway point.

More than 1,000 runners will take part across the men’s, women’s, junior and non-binary fields. Entry runs through a combination of priority registration for returning racers in March and a lottery drawn in early April, a system that fills the field months before race day and leaves plenty of would-be runners on the outside. The race committee made several changes for the 2026 season, including an adjustment to the long-standing skip-a-year policy that governs how racers hold their spots.

The course is short and brutal. Runners climb roughly 3,000 feet on loose rock and root, then come down a route that mixes scree, mud and a cliff band that has produced most of the race’s serious injuries over the years. Descent times regularly run a fraction of climb times, which is where the race is usually won.

The origin story is Seward’s favorite piece of folklore. Two locals argued over whether a man could climb the mountain and return in under an hour. A bet was made, merchants added a suit of clothes as a prize, and the race was set for the Fourth of July. The optimist lost. The winning time was 1 hour and 2 minutes.

Spectators pack Fourth Avenue for the finish and line the lower mountain to watch racers come off the scree. Lodging in Seward books out months ahead of the holiday weekend, and the Seward Highway backs up in both directions on race morning.

Results post to mountmarathon.com throughout the day.