Kneeland Taylor By Doyle Woody Kneeland Taylor had a plan in 2021. At 73, he would race Mount Marathon for the last time, give himself a final mountain memory to savor, then call it a career before he hurt himself in the perilous Fourth of July race in Seward. And everything transpired terrifically — until his final stride. Sprinting to the finish line to avoid a last-second pass by hardcharging Gregory Lincoln of Bethel, Kneeland found himself between two timing mats on his final stride. Leaning, lunging forward, arms churning, he slammed to the pavement in the finish chute. “Last 20 yards,’’ Taylor recalled, “I’m reckless.’’ The good news: Taylor held off Lincoln fractionally — both men were given a time of 2 hours, 3 minutes, 29 seconds. The grim news: Taylor’s crash resulted in a non-displaced fracture of his right femur near the hip, requiring a five-day hospital stay and months of physical therapy and recovery. The takeaway: So much for one last sweet memory of the mountain. The reminder: Intense competition doesn’t only take place at the front of a race. The look-ahead: Taylor is treating 2022 as the new 2021. Taylor, 74, will be back on the mountain this year for the 22nd time since his 1997 race debut, intent on seizing one sweet, final race memory. Taylor, an attorney from Anchorage, approached the finish line last year, on the runners’ right side of the road. He was curious whether he had a firm hold on his finish place. He said his neck was sore, so he could not comfortably look to his left and behind. That’s when he heard spectators encouraging Lincoln: “You can catch him! You can catch him!” Taylor launched into a sprint just before Lincoln pulled even with him. You know the rest. Taylor and Lincoln, who also tumbled to the pavement, did not touch as they crossed the line. Just bad racing luck for Taylor. “He was so nice, and apologetic,’’ Taylor said of Lincoln, emphasizing Lincoln was not at fault. After sitting on an overturned bucket and getting hosed down in the finish chute, Taylor said he wasn’t in pain — until he tried to stand up. That was a non-starter. Medical personnel at the finish loaded him onto a gurney — now that was painful, Taylor said — and took him to Providence Seward Medical Center, which sits along the course, near the base of the mountain. “It’s really convenient to have an ambulance right there,’’ Taylor said, deadpan. He was transported by road later that night to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.
2022 MOUNT MARATHON RACE GUIDE
Through hard work and the help of a physical therapist and occupational therapist, both friends of his before the injury, Kneeland eventually began riding a stationary bike and was back skate skiing before Thanksgiving. Taylor grew up hiking with his father in the Adirondacks in upstate New York and bagged several 14,000-foot peaks when he lived in Colorado for five years. He’s also a backcountry skier. Mountains are his thing. Come the Fourth, he’ll be chasing one more mountain memory. And Taylor has no doubt the thousands of spectators who line the course from downtown and onto the mountain will help make his final journey sweet. “There’s something about running down the mountain and road and having 10,000 drunks yelling and cheering for you like (you’re) a hero,’’ he said.
YEAR
PLACE TIME
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
205 226 164 185 202 213 234 237 211 214 240 260 278 269 279 297 287 285 281 252 247
1:33:45 1:41:23 1:32:45 1:26:11 1:28:42 1:33:11 1:36:18 1:35:00 1:26:07 1:27:49 1:34:49 1:34:30 1:33:28 1:36:13 1:53:40 1:47:05 1:45:14 1:48:58 1:59:12 2:08:03 2:03:29
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