Klaire Rhodes was attacked by a brown bear in state park but spray helped her escape with ‘relatively minor injuries’

An Alaska marathon athlete used a repellant spray to fend off an attacking bear that officials say injured her while she ran on a popular trail recently – an encounter that she has since described as “a nightmare come to life”.

The particularly harrowing episode unfolded on 13 August, when a woman who later identified herself online as marathon winner Klaire Rhodes, 28, was running alone on the Wolverine Bowl trail in Chugach state park, officials with Alaska’s fish and game department said. A brown bear on the trail attacked and injured her, according to the agency.