Congratulations Tyson Flaharty and Miron Golfman, our ITI 1000 bike champs!

“After what was hands down the most difficult physical challenge of my life, it was amazing to have some easy riding trail and beautiful weather as we rolled into Nome! To have shared this experience with Tyson meant the world.” - Miron shared this sentiment after putting forth an impressive effort to cross beneath the ceremonial Iditarod arch. We can’t help but get a little emotional while watching footage of their finish. Both in red jackets, holding hands, and pedaling in together - it’s a true image of the friendship and the strong bonds that form while spending time out on the trail. 16 days, 5 hours, 10 minutes, and 30 seconds after the race start, we’ve got our Iditarod Trail Invitational champions decompressing and enjoying their rest over 950 miles into the adventure of a lifetime.
After a short rest in Elim, Philip Hofstetter will have less than 100 miles left before he finds himself finishing in Nome behind Tyson and Miron. Let that sink in a little bit. Miron and Tyson have held onto a 100+ mile lead for several days.
Kinsey Loan spent the morning at the Foothills cabin and began working towards Shaktoolik after a nice 9 hour rest. She continues to ride strong, steadily making her way towards crossing the Norton Bay. She and Mark Moeller will be able to experience the sea ice together and we are hoping that the weather holds as they make their way across to Koyuk. Weather looks clear for this area of Alaska, with temps hovering around 0 for the next few days and dropping down to -12 at night with light winds.

Tiziano and Ben stayed in Unalakleet for over 9 hours, likely spending half of that time filling themselves with pizza that Tiziano “waited 40 miles to see” - hopefully it lived up to its reputation! We are quite confident that it did, Bret does an amazing job slinging pizza at all hours of the day for all of the ITI athletes as well as the Iditarod mushers, teams, and volunteers! Thomas is still at Peace on Earth Pizza, after having underestimated the calorie load he would need in the cold, he has been supplementing liberally with food from scratched racers drop boxes. 

He plans to take a day to recover and hopes the wind forecasts are correct that it won't be too brutal crossing the sea ice to Koyuk by the end of day on Friday. Now, it's carbs, sugars, AND protein with each snack, as well as breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Leah and Gavin left the Yukon this morning! If you were following trackleaders, you may have seen Leah turn around and head back towards Kaltag. By 3pm AK time, Gavin and Ryan have made it to the Tripod Flats and Leah is now making her way back along the Kaltag portage, a relatively straight valley angling southwest through the coastal mountains. This area marks the transition from the inland river environment to the Bering Sea coast. Conditions can be incredibly different from one end of this corridor to the next, and wind can be a constant companion as you make your way closer to the Sea. The distance from Kaltag to Unalakleet is roughly 82 miles, and if the weather is nice athletes can make this stretch in one go. If the weather isn’t cooperating, there are two cabins within this stretch, the Tripod Flats cabin (35 miles from Kaltag) and the Old Woman cabin (35 miles to Unalakleet), approximately spaced 15 miles apart from one another. These two cabins are in beautiful places and they can provide much needed shelter if wind and storms accompany the journey. Asbjoern is just a few miles behind Gavin and Ryan, making his way steadily on skis.

So why did Leah abruptly turn and head back to Kaltag? Our WWW Queen experienced something incredibly challenging which is something that we all know can happen out on the trail - but which we all wish never happens! Leah fell through ice up to her waist while crossing a stream roughly 8 miles out from Kaltag and was faced with making a quick decision to get herself out of danger: should she continue onwards towards the Tripod Flats cabin to dry herself and her gear, or should she backtrack towards the school in Kaltag? With quick thinking in -20 degree temps, she made the smart decision to backtrack downhill rather than to continue traveling uphill towards a safety cabin. She made her way back to the school and was able to use the dryer to get all of her stuff dried out. Wow. We are so thankful that she was able to make the smart decision to keep herself out of danger!! We love you Leah! What an incredible display of self-rescuing out on the trail. 

This is Leah’s second time to Nome, and she’s no beginner to winter ultras. With 10 finishes at the Arrowhead 135 winter ultra in International Falls, Minnesota, Leah prioritizes the unique discipline and focus required to accomplish the feat of multi-day cold-weather riding! One of her biggest priorities is avoiding permanent damage, which she showcased today by making her health the utmost priority after getting wet in the deep cold. She has noted that the most interesting stories focus on overcoming obstacles and she definitely did that today! We cannot wait to hear about this experience in more detail! If you’d like to hear more about the Arrowhead 135 or to get to know Leah a little better, be sure to check out the film 40 Below: The Toughest Race in the World. (Okay, okay, that film’s title is up for debate after dot-stalking on Trackleaders the last 16+ days!) Link for the film’s trailer here:

https://youtu.be/guLGd1nUw18?feature=shared

Nearing Kaltag, Beat Jegerlehner and Brandon Lott left Nulato around 5am AK time. They’ve been steadily traveling on foot, and will find themselves safe and warm in the school before temperatures drop to -20 tonight. Behind them, we’ll see Christof, Jan, Jeff, and our friend Faye Norby will all make their way along the Yukon before finding refuge at the school in Kaltag. Faye and Jeff are loving the night schedule, traveling in the dark steadily along.
Mark Hines stopped briefly in Galena after bivying along the river for a few hours and is going to keep trekking along, while Hendra on bike and Joshua on ski rest up. Petr, approximately 10 miles out from Galena, will be happy for company if they’re both still there by the time he gets to the village.

Back in Ruby, roughly 30 miles behind Petr, Sunny Stroeer on ski is in good spirits after resting. She traded pizza she brought all the way from McGrath to other trail users (dog teams and snowmachines) for other snacks and she’s soaking up the camaraderie on the trail. Craving warmth after several cold days, she resourcefully made a bonfire out of dog straw at her bivy site last night. Sunny is managing the cold injury on her thumb well and has also been dealing with a crown that came off of a tooth. You got this, Sunny! We are all rooting for you! 

Written by Jill Martindale
Photo of Miron and Tyson’s finish