ITI by the numbers

I don’t know about you, but it’s a little sad to look at the race tracker and not see any racers left. Today was another epic, history-making day in ITI history. Let’s back up though - what’s been happening out there? Since yesterday’s update a bevy of tired athletes found their way to the burled arch. 

Mark Hines left Topcock Cabin just after 1 am yesterday with 45 miles between the cabin and Nome. With only short breaks, he pushed straight through to arrive at the finish at 9:30pm. Hendra made a very similar push, leaving at about the same time and arriving in Nome at 10:30 pm. On skis, Petr also made a long push from Topcock, departing at 8:30 am and steadily making his way along the coast yesterday. Petr arrived in Nome this morning at about 7:30 am, apparently with a hankering for the local bakery. I suspect we’d all have a hankering for baked goods as well, after yet another 24 hour long ski. Brandon also made the push from Topcock to arrive just before 11am this morning. 

Taking a hard pass on a long 24-hour push, Sunny left Topcock around the same time as everyone else, but stopped for a nap at Safety before her final 22 mile ski into Nome. Sunny arrived in Nome at approximately 11:55 am today, plenty of time (3+ hours) to spare before the 30-day time cutoff. With her finish in 29 days, 23 hours and 6 minutes, she became the first female ever to ski the ITI to Nome. If we look back to Lars Danner’s blog about skiing on the route (http://larsdanner.blogspot.com/2020/07/skiers-who-have-skied-iditarod-to-nome.html), we see just two other women, and indeed only one that skied the full northern route. Let us all take a moment to commend Sunny on her monumental achievement; congratulations, Sunny! Hopefully she’s now taking in some well deserved rest and relaxation (and food, lots of food). 

Where to start with Sunny? She founded the AWE Summit Scholarship Foundation, originally created by women in order to break down barriers for women in the big mountain realm. Gender equity is at the heart of their mission and they strive to empower all marginalized genders. Sunny also manages the Foundation’s sister organization, AWExpeditions, a for-profit mountaineering and adventure guiding business for women, by women. AWExpeditions plans and leads the all-female climbs and adventures that Summit Scholarship recipients participate in free of charge. 

She entered the ITI 350 in 2021 with the eventual goal of skiing to Nome, then on her freshly purchased not-yet-3 week old pair of mostly unused skis. Did we mention that this was her first pair of skis? I was also skiing in 2021 and crossed paths with Sunny several times. I was struck by how well she took care of herself despite the challenges, something I could learn a thing or two about. 

While recuperating in Nome today, Sunny shared these thoughts. “It’s all in the mind. The physical challenge is just the stage for facing the emotional and mental challenge of doing something like this. In the end, I was juuuuust fit enough and just stubborn enough to keep on keeping on day after day - and at the end of the day that’s all you have to do in an event like this. If I can do this, so can many others.” I was thrilled to see she donated her skis to a local at the finish, though perhaps this was as much of a gift to them as it was to her?

As we contemplate the last 30 days, there were highs, there were lows, there were certainly edge-of-the-seat moments of anticipation as we watched racers overcome extreme cold, wind storms, blizzard conditions, overflow, rain, and so much more. Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Starters represented 11 countries from across the globe, including Australia, Canada, and several European countries. 103 starting athletes ranged from age 27 to 68 and were 78% men and 22% women. 42 athletes or 41% scratched. 66 starters were on bike, 27 on foot, and 10 on skis. Mean age was 45.5 with an even distribution more heavily weighted towards 36 - 43 years old. Of the 61 finishers, they were 18% women and 82% men. 65 people started the race for McGrath, and 38 for Nome. 

Looking a little more closely at finishers, they had a similar age distribution to above, with age 36 to 53 seeing the most finishes. In the 350 and 1000 mean age was 43.  Winners tended - but inconsistently - towards the younger end of the age range.

Sunny was the youngest (38) and only female ski finisher this year (and the first ever ITI 1000 female ski finisher). Ski finishers were generally a young bunch, with a mean age of 41 years. Amazingly, there were only two McGrath ski finishes, and five Nome finishes. 

Amongst foot finishers we see a similar trend, just four 350 finishers and seven 1000 finishers. Mean age of Nome finishers was 46, mean age of McGrath finishers was 44. Ryan Fox is an outlier at only 26, without him the mean age of this group is 51. Mean age of Nome finishers was 46, again with the lone female finisher also in the youngest age bracket of 42.

Numbers in the bike category are more robust, with a much larger sample size. In the 350, the mean age was 43 with 32 finishers. In the 1000 distance there were 11 finishers, mean age 42. Females here tended to be younger, 30 and 43. Top finishers tended towards the younger end of the age range, but 3rd place bike finisher Peter Delamere is 53.

I could spend all night playing with the numbers, but after religiously following dots for 30 days, the Wild Winter Women update writers are tired, the athletes are tired, race volunteers and staff are tired. We heartily congratulate all the racers and all their supporters. We may be back tomorrow for one more recap, and we’ll definitely be back next year to bring you the highs, the lows, and everything in between.

Sign up starts April 1, will you be there?

Author: Amber Crawford

Photo Credit: Iditarod Trail Invitational