Courtesy: Running USA

The Alaska Mountain Runners host the first of three USA Track & Field mountain running selection races for the Teva US Mountain Running Team on Sunday, June 9. The 5.5-mile Wolverine Mountain Run gains approximately 3600 vertical feet with the first mile slightly downhill and the remainder of the route uphill mirroring the type of course team members will encounter at the WMRA World Mountain Trophy Race this September in Innsbruck, Austria.

The remaining two selection races will be Gorham, New Hampshire's 7.6-mile Mount Washington Hill Climb on June 15 and the 7.5-mile Vail Hill Climb in Vail, Colorado on July 7.

The first US male and first US female finisher at each of the USATF mountain running selection races earns an automatic berth on the Teva US Mountain Running Team with other top finishers considered for a spot on the 10-member senior squad (six men and four women). The six-member junior squad will be selected based on running resumes.

Hoping to secure a spot at the Wolverine Mountain Run will be three-time team member Suzy West from Putney, Vermont. West was the top US finisher at the 1999 WMRA World Trophy Race in Sabah, Malaysia. She will face her toughest competition from Vail Colorado's Anita Ortiz winner of the Teva Spring Run-Off on May 25 and last winter's US National Snowshoe Champion. Other top women include Olympic cross country skiers and Alaska locals Nina Kemppel and Kikkan Randall.

Heading up the men's competition will be multiple-year US team members Dave Dunham and Eric Morse, both are USATF Mountain Runners of the Year (Dunham '00, Morse '01). Challenging the pair from New England USATF association will be former Pikes Peak Ascent and Mount Evans Hill Climb champion Scott Elliott from Boulder, Colorado hoping to make his first US team and locals Todd Boonstra, Kevin Donley, Derek Dagley, and 2002 team member Brad Precosky.