Sterling’s Morgan Aldridge won the North Pole Triathlon on Saturday at the Chena Lakes Recreation Area.

The event was an Olympic distance race, with a 1,500-meter swim, 13-mile bike and six-mile run.

Aldridge, who was third overall, won the race with a dominant bike leg. She finished at 2 hours, 19 minutes and 19 seconds, while Courtney Heinz was the second woman, and fourth overall, at 2:19:57.

Heinz was faster in the run and the swim than Aldridge, but Aldridge finished the bike in 57:13, while Heinz was at 1:01:45.

Atkinson leads peninsula at Mayor’s Marathon

Seward’s Collin Atkinson finished 21st in the Mayor’s Marathon in Anchorage on Saturday to lead the Kenai Peninsula.

Atkinson’s chip time was 3:14:03, while Sitka’s Christopher Brenk won at 2:35:07.

Also from the peninsula, Homer’s Graham Forbes was 63rd in 3:48:27 and Anchor Point’s Lukas Blair was 298th in 5:46:25.

Anchorage’s Mariah Burroughs won the women’s marathon at 3:14:27. Homer’s Elizabeth Roedl led peninsula women by finishing 23rd in 3:48:23, while Kenai’s Sara Larsen was 27th in 3:50:44, Homer’s Julia Ruimveld was 39th in 3:57:29 and Soldotna’s Sheri Boggs was 211th in 6:23:42.

Samuel Stresemann of Boulder, Colorado, won the men’s marathon at 1:21:48. For the peninsula, Kenai’s Eric Thomason was 93rd at 1:53:23, Homer’s Andy Rothenberger was 159th at 2:08:42 and Homer’s Jonathan Erickson was 220th in 2:23:21.

Autumn Ray of Tucson, Arizona, won the women’s half marathon at 1:22:48, while Homer’s Amanda Cherok was fifth at 1:39:45. Also from the peninsula, Homer’s Heather Rothenberger was 168th in 2:12:12, Anchor Point’s Brooke Sanford was 316th in 2:35:59, Homer’s Melinda Erickson was 333rd in 2:40:51, Soldotna’s Heather Swanson was 350th in 2:44:04, Homer’s Christina De La Torre was 376th in 2:52:42, Soldotna’s Lisa Kosto was 416th in 3:04:36 and Soldotna’s Molly Bauder was 444th in 3:19:56.

Arneson wins Bird Ridge Hill Climb

Lars Arneson, a 2009 graduate of Cook Inlet Academy, won the Bird Ridge Hill Climb on Sunday.

Arneson, who lives in Anchorage, finished at 40:39 to top runner-up Walker Hall of Winthrop, Washington, by nearly a minute. The race is three miles and 3,400 feet. It is uphill only.

Galen Hecht, who lived on the central peninsula for 18 months before moving to Anchorage in January 2022, was fifth in 42:57.

Also from the peninsula, Seward’s Samuel Young was 74th in 1:02:28, Soldotna’s Kevin Lauver was 99th in 1:15:08 and Seward’s Fred Moore was 116th in 1:31:50.

The women’s race was won by Palmer’s Meg Inokuma in 47:16. Inokuma lived on the central peninsula for the summers of 2014 to 2016.

Denali Strabel, a 2008 graduate of Seward High School now living in Palmer, finished second at 51:32. Julianne Dickerson, who was raised in Kenai, was 12th in 54:59.

From the peninsula, Seward’s Milissa Lewis was 27th in 1:00:06, Seward’s Kristen Sieminski was 37th in 1:04:46, Seward’s Glo Chitwood was 48th in 1:09:38, Seward’s Shelby Sieminski was 51st in 1:11:15, Seward’s Natalie Sieminski was 58th in 1:15:30, Seward’s Jennifer Anderson was 59th in 1:17:03 and Soldotna’s Sondra Stonecipher was 60th in 1:17:11.