Fairbanks’ David Norris is no stranger to trail running and endurance sports as a skier and five-time Mount Marathon champion.
However, on Sunday in Sunapee, New Hampshire, he accomplished another major milestone in his career. He won the men’s division at the U.S. Mountain Running Championships with a first-place time of 1 hour, 9 minutes, 55 seconds, which was just a few seconds ahead of Mason Coppi (1:10:01), who came in second.
“It’s huge,” Norris said. “I’m really excited about it. I think it’s way up there, because it feels kind of nice also for me to have a race like this to measure and kind of see where I stack up with the national runners across the country.”
Since the race also doubled as the world championship team qualifier, Norris knew that it would draw some of the top competitors from all over the nation.
“Racing in Alaska, you get really good competition from all of Alaska, but with a race like this, I knew I’d get my best shot at just seeing if I’m a top five or 10 or 20th-place runner in the country for this type of discipline,” he said. “I wanted to put myself out there and see where I ended up.”
To his surprise, Norris came out on top, which gave his confidence a major boost.
“It helps me trust the training I’ve that I’ve been doing and it was really exciting and reassuring because I really just didn’t know,” he said.
Races like Mount Marathon are so unique to Alaska given its terrain, which had Norris curious about how his running abilities and skillset would translate to other forms of trail racing outside of the state.
Compared to his past experiences in the 49th state, his national title-winning race course wasn’t nearly as steep or technical as what he’s accustomed to.
“It was much more runnable,” Norris said. “I didn’t hike a single step of the race. It rained a ton the days leading up to the race, so it was very slick, muddy and sloppy, so it definitely favored my skill set. All the years growing up racing and running in Alaska really prepared me for this race.”
Other Alaskans who competed in the race included Wasilla’s Joshua Taylor, who finished 15th in 1:20:49, and Kenai’s Allie Ostrander, who came in fifth place in the women’s race — just short of a top-three finish that would’ve qualified her for the World Championship team.
With his result, Norris will now get to represent the U.S. at the 2025 World Mountain Running Championships Classic Up and Down race in Spain in September. It is an honor he is “really excited” about.
“Anytime you get to represent on a national team in an international competition, it’s a huge honor,” Norris said. “I’m particularly excited to get to know all the people who will be on the trail team for world championships because the whole (national) running scene is a little bit new to me, so getting to meet all those athletes is going to be really fun for me.”
He plans on heading to Spain about four days before the race to try to get acclimated to the time change but intends on sticking to his training regimen up until then.
It will mark Norris’ second trip to Europe in less than a month: A few weeks before vying for a world title, he’ll be competing in a 50K race in France.
“Prior to qualifying for Spain, that was my target of focus for my summer training,” he said.
Since Norris is a full-time banker by day in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and an elite trail runner in his spare time, his leave time is scarce and he can’t spend the weeks between the two races overseas training and traveling.
Getting to represent Alaska, in particular, whenever he competes domestically or abroad is something he takes pride in.
“There’s tons of pride in that,” Norris said. “It’s so cool and people usually get excited when they hear that you’re from Alaska and have that kind of story behind it, and people like that. I think it’s fun to be able to tell them how amazing our trail running community is here, and there’s a reason so many great runners and athletes in general come out of Alaska.”
Before he leaves the country this fall, Norris will return to Alaska to take part in the 2025 Mount Marathon race with hopes of pulling off a second straight successful title defense. Last year, he set a record with his finish time of 40 minutes, 37 seconds.
“I’m really excited to come back to Seward,” Norris said. “It’s a highlight of the summer. It’s always fun to be back and see friends and family, and then the race itself is just so unique. Nothing else really compares to the steepness and the crazy fans. Everything about Mount Marathon is a true Alaskan race.”