The 2026 Kachemak Bay Mountain Classic race began at the beach trailhead near Humpy Creek across the bay from Homer, ascended to Portlock Plateau before turning and descending back to Humpy Creek, across the flats to cross Grewingk Creek, to Glacier Lake, and concluding at the Saddle Trailhead beach. There was a total elevation gain of about 2,900 feet.
The course is only accessible by boat and was designed to be a Half Marathon or 13.1 miles. Registration was limited to 30 participants who signed up to either run or hike. The event was full before race day and 26 participants completed the race.
One of the race coordinators and board member for Friends of Kachemak Bay State Parks Silas Firth provided additional race details:
“We always put a a cap on it just for the permit so that state parks knows how big it could potentially get and with it being a new course this year and some more challenging drop offs, you know Humpy Creek is not the greatest drop off spot and then we didn't know about the traffic just because Saddle Trail is so heavily used so we capped it at 30 people for this year just as a trial run. Registration filled up within a couple weeks of opening, and all 30 people showed up… I was impressed. I don't think we've never had everybody show up. There's always a few people that just turn out as no-shows, and so I was yeah, very happy that everybody turned out.”
The event has taken other routes in the past:
“So it's been on Grace Ridge the most for the number of years that it has been held. And back when it started, Grace Ridge was in terrible shape, and it was almost impassable to hike in spots. And so friends started clearing that trail, used the race to promote it, and Grace Ridge is in amazing shape now, and then same thing with Sadie. We've held the race on Sadie Knob a couple times, and that trail is in great shape now, too. And so then shifting, the idea of the concept of the race is to be able to shift it around every couple years to open up more trails and bring more awareness to them,” Firth said.
Andrew Peters, now from Anchorage but who grew up in Homer, according to Firth, won the race with a time of 2 hours, 12 minutes and 27 seconds. Second place was Denver Waclawski from Homer with a time of 2 hours, 15 minutes and 12 seconds. The first place female was Sarah Freistone from Anchorage with a time of 2 hours, 33 minutes and 30 seconds. Firestone took 5th place overall.
Silas Firth provided a few comments on Kathy Sarns of Homer who first started the race event.
“So this one has been Kathy Sarns who started the race and is still super involved in all of it. Sarns did most of the organizing this year. The Portlock Plateau has been kind of a dream of hers for a long time, and last year did quite a bit of trail work over there. Got things opened up, and there's been more going on this year.”
The Kachemak Bay Trail system was created with Exxon Valdez Oil Spill money and Firth gave some information on where the trails in the park stand now:
“I think there were over 80 miles of trails created then. There's about 25 miles now that are hikeable, so a lot has been lost. I feel like just in the last couple years, though, there has been a lot of momentum through friends, especially in revitalizing. So I think we're on a really good trend right now. If we can continue, things have been opening up,” Firth said.
As introduced on the Friends website: Friends of Kachemak Bay State Parks is a non-profit organization founded to promote the enhancement, preservation and protection of the natural recreational, scientific and historical resources of Kachemak Bay State Parks. Located on the tip of the Kenai Peninsula, Kachemak Bay State Parks includes nearly 400,000 acres of mountains, glaciers, forests, beaches, and rivers. More information is available at https://www.friendsofkachemakbay.org/.
Reporting from Homer, this is Emilie Springer.
