Both records and athletes tumbled during the tortuous Crow Pass Crossing Saturday.

The 24-mile ultra-terrain race began at the Crow Pass Trailhead, outside Girdwood, ending at the Eagle River Nature Center. In between was a three-mile lung-searing climb to the summit of the Pass, a long downhill astride Raven Glacier, crossing the headwaters of Eagle River, a six-mile obstacle course of rocks and roots, and a half-mile finishing chute with a continual uphill gradient. Simply tortuous.

Crow Pass Crossing racer Mark Stevens gets some encouragement from one of dozens of spectators lining the last half-mile. See page 10 for more photos and story on the race. PHOTO BY Dan Shepard

Even so, the 2006 course record of 3:05:18, set by Eric Strabel came tumbling down as Strabel and Juneau's Geoff Roes shattered the previous mark.

Roes won, in 2 hours, 57 minutes, 11.7 seconds, with Strabel, second, a minute behind in 2:58:30.2. The combined feat brought to rest whether the mythical three-hour barrier would ever be breached.

Area runners were well represented in the men's race, with two placing third in the top 11.

Hugh Gren was fourth, in 3:23:46.2; Tony Slatonbarker, sixth, 3:31:00.3; and ultra-marathoner Evan Hone, 11th, in 3:39:21.0.

The women's division was won by Laura Brosius, 24, a University of Fairbanks graduate student, Brosius ran both track and cross-country in college at the University of Michigan.

Having never run the course before, Brosius said she received invaluable information from former Crow Pass champ Matias Saari, as to how to conquer the course.

The winner said she had little training going into the event.

"Just some hikes, a couple long run and a running up Esther Dome outside of Fairbanks - once," she said.

Brosius looked relatively fresh coming up the finishing grade, clocking a time of 3 hours, 57 minutes, 31.5 seconds, beating the defending 2008 champ Eeva Latosuo by nearly seven minutes. Her winning time is now one of only three sub-four hour clocking among women.

The race turned into an adventure for a pair of local runners.

Seward's Mount Marathon 2009 junior men's winner Alex Babos, 16, said the race was the toughest event he's entered.

"It was a lot harder than Mount Marathon," said Babos Sunday, still feeling the effects on the endurance event. "In Mount Marathon (the juniors race), you're done in a half hour. With this race, you're running for four hours - plus."

Although quick to the top of Crow Pass, Babos said runners began passing him on the backside descent.

"I was probably in the top 20 (runners) going up," said the youth, with dozens of ascents up the surround mountains of the Eagle River valley already to his credit this summer.

Babos said that the worst part for him was trying to find the trail approaching the front side of the river. With vegetation over his head, Babos was part of a four-member group that foraged through nearly two miles of trail without seeing where his steps were landing.

"That was the worst - with the cow parsnip stinging your arms and legs," he said.

Levi Younger, 21, also of Eagle River, was another one of that four-person pack fending through the grasses and weeds.

"I must have tripped at least 15 times - literally," he said Sunday, still feeling the ill effects of tight calves and ripped up quadriceps muscles.

While the missteps and subsequent falls were quick, the effects of the tingling from the cow parsnip were lingering, lasting two to three hours after the race.

"Actually I thought was going to still feel it this morning as well," said Younger.

A veteran of two marathons, Younger, who was pulled into the race by the challenge for friend Evan Hone, said the race was much more difficult than the slightly longer 26.3 mile road race.

Younger had a fright just prior to the river, while running through the tall grasses, he was stung by a bee.

In a race where bear sightings are nearly a yearly occurrence, bees would seen to be a mere inconvenience.

Younger, who was stung in his lower back, reached under his shirt and actually extracted the villain.

"It took me a while to realize what was happening - that I was being stung," he said.

He pulled the bee out between thumb and forefingers, squeezed the things then cast it aside.

The realization then struck.

"I hope I'm not allergic to bees," he thought. "If I go into anaphylactic shock, I'm going to be done for," Younger recounted.

The foursome then reached the edge of the water, when Younger and another, stopping for a brief snack, while Babos and the fourth member, quickly slid into the glacier-fed waters.

Although Babos packed a pair of water shoes with him, he went across with them still tucked away in his small daypack.

"I took very short steps. I didn't want to slip and go under," he said.

The trek took nearly two minutes, with virtually all feeling from upper thigh down gone by midway, he said.

Although frigid, Younger said he found the chilly waters to lessen the effects of the parsnip - washing the majority of the minute hairs away.

Once across the river, the four floundered in picking up the trail, meandering a bit before regaining the way.

Both admitted that it took nearly five minutes of running to regain the feeling to their legs.

"It was like running on ice cubes, or like playing hockey outside for a couple hours in below zero weather - I couldn't feel my toes," said Younger, a former varsity hockey player for Eagle River High School.

Near the 18-mile mark, Younger said he hit the proverbial wall, having run out of both water and nutrition.

"For the last five miles, it was more about just finishing - that's what it came to for me," he said.

A maze of rocks and roots set out like a gauntlet before him, tripping Younger another 10-15 times.

"At one point, after I feel, I didn't think I was going to get up and continue. But there was a lady out there with a dog, who encouraged me to get back up and get going," he said.

Younger said he was passed by three runners in the last two miles, but that it didn't matter, just wanting to finish the course.

"That (last) hill was something else - it sucked," he said.

Younger finished 20th overall, in 3:51:30.8, with Babos, 32nd among men, in 4:07:58.7.

Both Younger and Babos said they would think twice before racing away.

However, less than 24 hours after Saturday's finish, Younger said he's contemplating the idea.

"I kinda wanted to take 20 to 30 minutes off my time," he said Sunday afternoon.

Reach the reporter at editor@alaskasta.com.