Posted: Aug 06, 2013

Principia Cross Country Runner Challenges Pushes Himself to New Heights

Principia College's Wylie Mangelsdorf, a junior cross country runner, has taken to a new challenge in training for his upcoming Cross Country season; mountain racing. Mangelsdorf won the Bird Ridge race this past weekend and is quickly making a name for himself.

With just a few mountain races under his belt, Wylie Mangelsdorf has caught the attention of the elite mountain runners. Wylie shocked the crowds with a win on Bird Ridge where he passed Eric Strabel, the 2010 champion and Matt Novakovich, last year's champion in the up-hill only race. Wylie clocked the second fastest time ever on the mountain with a time of 39:03.9. Wylie also took 3^rd in the famous Mt. Marathon race, which is one of the oldest standing races in American history. Wylie helped to push the other top runners which caused Eric Strabel, the winner, to finally break the 32 year old record, one of the longest standing record in sports today. Wylie raced up and down the 3.5 miles in 44 minutes, 9 seconds, which is the 7^th fastest time in the race's history. Read below as Wylie answers some questions about his recent successes in mountain racing.

Congratulations Wylie on your win in the Bird Ridge race and your 3^rd place finish in the Mt. Marathon race! How does it feel to be a rising star?

Well, yeah…honestly I am still in shock! Both of those were kind of surprises. I did Bird Ridge last year for the first time and got 4^th. I think the one advantage I had in that race was the fact that the last third of the course is a slow incline to the finish, and with all the training I have done for cross country- that gave me an advantage. That is where I made my move to the front. It was all very surreal to me. And after Mt. Marathon, I can't believe I am even competing with these mountain running legends.

How long have you been racing mountains?

Last summer was my first mountain race, Bird Ridge, and this year I have done three, so not very long. Mt. Marathon is the only race that I have been consistently trying to get into since 2001. It's so fun to be around the Mt. Marathon race on the 4^th of July, because of the great atmosphere! Government peak was the first race I did this summer, I was in second place for the first half, but then Eric Strabel passed me, and I ended up 5^th overall in that one. That was the steepest race and mountain I have ever hiked/raced! Then I did Bird Ridge and Mt. Marathon.

What are some of the strategies you use that are specific towards mountain running? I have seen some mountain racers using their hands to push on their legs, is that pretty typical?

Yeah…the guy that won, Eric has a different strategy and does not use his arms at all, but aside from him, most people push on their legs. It really saves your legs to use your arms to push down on them. When you are on a steep incline at 45 degrees or more it's easy to have your hands there anyways. I take larger steps, but some people take smaller steps and some are in between. It all depends on the person.

I read somewhere that one of your competitors was talking about you before the Mt. Marathon race and said you were good going up the mountain, but they assumed you couldn't go down very well…how did you feel about that when you heard it?...Did it make you race differently?

I thought it was pretty cool that he (Brent Knight) even thought of me and commented, because he was set to crush the record a few years ago, but ran into someone and had to be taken to the hospital before finishing. I always thought of him as one of Alaska's professional racers. He also trains with members on the USA ski team. So being new to mountain racing and knowing he was in my age group of 18-29 and I would have to beat him to race again in two years, it was exciting and got me a bit pumped up! However, I'm not training this summer specifically for mountain races and I knew I was trying to get ready and be careful for cross country this year. I was more cautious than the rest of the competitors in Mt. Marathon, because I did not want to mess something up in my training or my goal of getting a top 3 finish at NCAA D3 Cross Country Nationals.

Does this type of racing help prepare you for cross country season in college?

Well, you know I asked Chuck the same question. I asked him if it's ok if I raced mountain races. He said he never had any athlete race mountains before but he thought it would be ok. He said it seemed to work out for me last year with the one race I did, so why not, just pay attention to my body and don't over do it. I agreed and thought it could not hurt. If anything it would definitely strengthens my legs for the season.

I've heard the Mt. Marathon race has quite an amazing atmosphere surrounding race day, can you tell me a little about it?

The Mountain Marathon race is so much fun because of the atmosphere! The population goes from 3,000 to 30,000 over-night and only 500 of those people are racers! One year it actually got up to 50,000! IT'S SO MUCH FUN!!!!
Also, the way that the race was initiated is pretty interesting in itself. The whole race started in 1908 with a few men in a bar. Some guys bet one guy that he couldn't race up the mountain and back down in under an hour. He tried and missed by seconds which meant he had to buy the other guys a round of beers. They decided to make it a tradition on the 4^th of July and it has been a tradition ever since.

Anything else you think people should know about you or your races?

Well, just that Eric Strabel winning and breaking this record has been a really big deal….it was one of the longest standing record among any sport. It also showed what someone could really do if they set their mind to it. Eric knew this record could be broken a few years ago after watching Brent Knight come so close. He spent 364 days of the year training for that 365^th day where he hoped to prove that it could be broken and he did!

The Mt. Marathon race was pretty special because all the top racers really worked together as if they were all teammates. None of us would have gotten the times we got without each other. It is very rare to find someone like Eric Strabel who just broke this huge record and is an amazing athlete, to then come up to me, a 21 year old still 5-10 years before peaking, and wanted to help me train and show me the best paths on the mountain to try and lower that record even more. It was just so neat to find those kinds of athletes who are not all about themselves and are happy to work together with others just for the love of the sport! That is the atmosphere with the Mountain Running community! It is so neat! All I can think about is next year and how excited I am to come back and train with all these Legends of Alaska Mountain Running!