Runners, fans flock to Seward.

• Author: Pounds, Nancy
• Position: TRAVEL

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Even though Seward's Fourth of July party includes typical patriotic activities--a parade, fireworks and community contests--the famous Mount Marathon race is the main event.

The three-mile course, organized by Chamber of Commerce officials, is an epic mountain run, scaling and then descending the 3,022-foot Seward icon. About 350 volunteers are required to staff the race, providing services such as traffic control and setting up mountaintop timing equipment.

According to Cindy Clock, executive director of the Seward Chamber of Commerce, about 40,000 people visit Seward, population 2,500, for Independence Day activities. Accommodations for the festival typically sell out in March or April, Clock says.

World-class to recreational runners relish the challenge of powering uphill and then beginning a daredevil descent--and the...