Iditarod Trail Invitational, and they're off!
Starting at 2 p.m. Sunday, the 2024 Iditarod Trail Invitational was off like a rocket as racers enjoyed sunny skies, temperatures in the 20s, and fast trails.
The women’s field is the largest yet. The total number of ladies on the course is 23 — 15 cyclists, six runners, and two skiers. Seven — four cyclists, two runners, and one skier — are aiming to reach Nome.
The ITI has no set course — the rules only require that racers hit each checkpoint, the first being at mile 27 on Butterfly Lake. The Susitna River Valley is a veritable maze of designated snowmachine trails, gas line trails, railroad lines, and social trails. Picking the “best” route to the Yentna River is one of the first puzzles everyone must solve. Past years have shown all kinds of creative deviations. Since the Iron Dog Snowmachine Race finished in Big Lake on Sunday, the most logical choice was the freshly tracked trail across Big Lake, which most racers chose. The few deviations seemed similarly fast; everyone was making good time to checkpoint one.
In 2023, the first racer to Butterfly Lake arrived with 2 hours 51 minutes on the clock. This year, according to the tracker, Clinton Hodges III arrived at Butterfly Lake with 2 hours 21 minutes on the clock — a half hour faster than last year. Tazlina Mannix of Anchorage was the first woman to arrive at the checkpoint, pedaling to mile 27 on the course in 2 hours and 28 minutes. Smokin’! Rookies Lael Wilcox and Nikki Potter weren’t far behind.
Sunny Stoeer, the skier aiming for Nome this year, was one of three people who chose to take the standard Iditarod Trail. Sunny is keeping close company with Nome veteran walkers Donald Kane and Klaus Schweinberger.
As of this writing, all six women on foot were keeping close company across Big Lake, trying not to choke on the smog left behind by Iron Dog traffic (thanks to 1,000-mile racer Faye Norby for the photo, which shows Magdalena Paschke and Carole Holley.)
As racers head into the night, they are likely to encounter a stunning drop in temperatures and possibly some overflow and deeper snow as they head upriver. With clear skies, the temperature can easily plummet to 20 below on the Yentna River overnight. Since it was so warm at the start, these big (and common) swings often catch rookie racers off guard. Most of the race’s injuries happen during the first night.
According to a Facebook post from Deschka Landing, a heavy, wet storm that hit the area three days ago also may have a large impact. They wrote: “Only a half inch of snow fell from Deshka Landing to Yentna Station, but from 20 mile slough to Imm’s Inn there is about 10 inches of snow, Lake Creek to Skwentna received anywhere from 2 to 3 feet of snow, and Skwentna to Finger Lake received anywhere from 2 to 4 feet of snow.”
Wishing everyone a great night out there, and hoping for no frostbite in the morning.
-Jill Homer