Moser breezes to Nifty 50 win
Published 10:39 am Saturday, August 11, 2018
Riley Moser won his first-ever Nifty 50 ultramarathon on Saturday, joining an elite company of other ultramarathoners that have won the 50-kilometer race on three of Juneau’s most popular trails: Perseverance, Mt. Roberts and Salmon Creek.
Moser, 21, came sprinting across the finish line at the end of Basin Road around 1 p.m. as runners in the 25-kilometer race were still finishing up. Moser’s mark of 4 hours, 24 minutes, 37 seconds was four minutes off his time last year but right in step with the previous five winners’ times: Allan Spangler (3:54:38), Chris McGraw (4:43:20), Andrew Schirack (4:00:19), Shilon Orr (4:29:22) and John Sterns (4:12:51).
Spangler, who broke Schirack’s record time last year, did not race. Spangler remains the only runner to break the four-hour barrier.
A total of 13 runners signed up for the 50K, according to race director Keith Levy, all but four of whom hailed from Juneau. Cesar Lopez, of Austin, Texas, was the sole out-of-state participant in the full course.
Approximately 60 other runners participated in the 10-kilometer and 25-kilometer races, which shared the same beginning and middle as the 50K.
Leon Ulrich (48:16), Jim Ustasiewski (49:28) and Brian McTague (52:34) were the fastest in the 10K while Matt Callahan (2:41:25), John Nagel (2:49:59) and Rachel Phelps (2:50:31) topped the 25K field.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
