And the winner is!
The excitement continues on the 21’st day of the Iditarod Trail Invitational. Kinsey Loan is the 2024 Women’s Bike Champion! She and her fiance, third place Men’s finisher Mark Moeller, pushed hard for the finish. At 5am they were more than 50 miles from the finish, reporting mixed conditions with a tailwind and other times a “wicked cross and headwind.”
Foregoing White Mountain, they did stop shortly after to eat and plan next steps. Their plan to stop at the Topcock Cabin last night abruptly changed when snow machiners provided intel about a closer cabin that was still warm, which was an easy enough decision. Steady as they went the rest of the day and that is a podium finish for the couple, congratulations!
The finish line was busy today with two more bike finishers. Tiziano and Ben had been closing the gap on Kinsey and Mark all day, beginning the day with a 9 mile gap, you could really feel the excitement and pull of the finish for these four. The pair did stop at White Mountain, and when Tiziano reached White Mountain he reported when the wind was favorable, it blew the trail out, and when it was a headwind he had “no break, with 70 km of suffering (over) 11 hours.” No stranger to the finish, this is Tiziano’s third time under the burled arch. His advice to anyone that is ITI curious: “Calm reigns supreme” Congratulations Tiziano and Ben!
Thomas Miller is steadily making his way to White Mountain. After a solo push across Norton Sound, men’s foot leader Gavan made it to Koyuk, rested for several hours, and amazingly is on the move again.
Across Norton Sound, Leah and Ryan were at the Little Mountain cabin for 10 hours waiting for weather to improve. Leah reported “brutal conditions, super windy right in the face, too windy for riding.” The wait seems to have paid off as they are 13 miles out of Koyuk. Asbjoern took a longer rest but has now passed them both on the ice, conditions must be great for skiing. There has never been a finish on skis for the 1,000, keep your eyes on him, he looks strong.
After a 6 hour rest in Shaktoolik, Beat and Christof have also started the sea ice crossing, making their push to Koyuk, steady at around 3 mph. At the time of this writing Jan is just about to step onto the ice as well. Earlier he wrote: "I am the happiest person in the world, it was a massacre.” It sounds like he is enjoying it, we might have more than one ski finisher this year.
Lone women’s foot athlete Faye Norby and her partner had a solid push from Unalakleet, it must have been the pizza, and they made it to Foothills without a hitch. They rested for 6 hours and left around 7:30am. They have been resting for more than three hours in Shaktoolik. Brandon Lott is also on his way to Shaktoolik after a four hour rest in Unalakleet. Further down the trail, Hendra, Joshua, and Mark rested at the Old Woman cabin earlier today. They are achingly close to a pizza party reprieve in Unalakleet and the COAST.
Sunny made it to Kaltag at abut 7pm, and spent several hours recovering and warming up. This morning around 7am she left Kaltag for the Tripod flats cabin 25 miles away. She is now just a few miles out, for Sunny, the most important thing is to be able to keep her thumb from refreezing and potentially causing permanent damage. An upcoming cabin may seem like a warm and safe space, however there is no guarantee that there will be wood for her to burn, and if there isn’t, she would need to gather firewood or cut some. There are options to gather wood, but most of the easy-pickings have been scoured. If you don't have a saw, it can be extremely difficult.
From 1,000 mile finisher Jill Homer, “Typically, the Iditarod trailbreakers and sometimes the BLM (Bureau of Land Management, around the same time) take the time to stock the cabins before Unalakleet. This wood pile is usually diminished during the sled dog race and the first part of the ITI. Although it's the usual ethic, racers don't typically take the time to restock the wood. My experience in 2016 was no wood at most of the cabins. I often just slept in the cold cabin.”
Hopefully for Sunny and her hands she will have good luck in the next couple hours. If you remember in previous days, Faye had reported little to no wood at the Old Woman cabin. She will continue to have a cold night or two, but warmer temps are coming, and with that, some more comfortable miles and a little less risk.
Author: Kari Gibbons
Photo credit: Kyle Durand