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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - It was wet and wild in Seward as hundreds of runners returned to Mount Marathon for the 93rd running of the historic mountain race on Wednesday.

Anchorage’s David Norris turned a strong performance winning the men’s race in 43 minutes, 27 seconds. He set the course record in 2016 running it in 41 minutes, 26 seconds, and went into Wednesday’s race with two of the fastest times in race history: his record-setting time of 2016 and 42:13 in 2018. The Alaska Pacific University skier led start to finish, and won in convincing fashion, 2 minutes and 33 seconds faster than the second place runner.

It was Norris’ third win in as many races.

“The upper half was nice, felt strong,” Norris said after the race. “When I hit the junior course there was a big crowd and I was able to let it rip.”

Defending women’s champion, Seward’s own Hannah Lafleur, flew down the mountain and came from behind to win the women’s race for a second straight time.

Alaska Pacific University skier Rosie Frankowski was first to the top, trailed by Lafleur, Moose Pass’s Ruby Lindquist and Palmer’s Christy Marvin. All three passed Frankowski on the way down, and at the base of the mountain, Lafleur edged Lindquist to win with a time of 51:24.

“Once Ruby was in sight we were like, let’s see if we can reel Ruby in,” Lafleur said. “... The downhill was a bit of a blur. I tried not to put on the breaks.”

In the junior race, it was all smiles for Anchorage’s Lucy Young crossing the finish line first in the girl’s race. This was Young’s first Mount Marathon, and she won in a time of 33:55.

“It seemed like there was a ton of people out there cheering,” Young said. “Really motivational even if I don’t know what it’s usually like.”

The boy’s race was decided by 13 seconds as Ali Papillon edged Coby Marvin, winning in a time of 28:16 and improving on his previous third and second-place finishes.

“Burned out a lot quicker than I thought,” Papillon said. “My legs feel like they are on fire.”

Race director Matias Saari said the 2022 race will be held on the Fourth of July once again. This year’s race was moved due to COVID-19 precautions to reduce the number of people in Seward on race day.