Celebrations and "F-ing Tussocks"
Day 4 of the Iditarod Trail Invitational
What a fantastic day! Day 4 brought us thrills and chills (it is a winter ultra in Alaska after all) plus our first two Wild Winter Women (WWW) finishers. (Warning this post is all about our women athletes.)
Lael Wilcox is a phenomenon unto herself. Her list of biking accomplishments is long. Just look at her Wikipedia page. And on top of that, according to this lovely woman who I chatted with near Big Lake while waiting for the bikers to pass by on day one, she is also especially humble and kind. She is this year’s Women’s Bike Champion for the second year in a row, coming in with the third fastest time in race history. She did her home state proud. We love our local Alaskan, bad-a$$ women.
In second place with an equally impressive time (the sixth fastest to McGrath) and list of accomplishments to her name is Minnesotan, Kate Coward. According to our very own WWW Leah Gruhn, what is most impressive about Kate is that she digs deep. And she dug deep this year much like she did in 2020. Reports from the trail suggest that she experienced something very similar to what she experienced in 2020, blurring of vision and inability to just see what was around her. Luckily, she has a great sense of direction and intuition and gutted it out to a second place finish. BTW, when she was experiencing all that blurry vision in 2020, she also just happened to win the women’s bike race.
Every year this race is different depending on snow conditions, temperatures (cold to very freaking cold), rampaging moose, and whatever else Alaska can throw at you. But there are a few “good” (in quotes because they’re not good for everyone [foreshadowing alert]) years where the bikers get to push their limits. And this was one of those years. Both Lael and Kate join an exclusive group of women who were lucky enough to get low snow years and make it to McGrath in less than three days. The women who came before them were Heather Best in 2014 who owns the current women’s bike course record and Tracey Petervary in 2015. I want to honor not just Lael and Kate but also Heather and Tracey. My hats off to these incredibly strong, dedicated, and powerful women!
While Lael and Kate are hopefully resting their legs and planning their next meals, the race continues for many. Athletes are trickling through Nikolai at a slow but steady pace. (Kara Oney just left and, according to our own WWW Amber Crawford who is volunteering at Nikolai, she is looking good! And she will be our third WWW bike finisher sometime late tonight or early Thursday morning. Knock on wood!) Many are coming in exhausted, and with plenty to say about tussocks. (As an aside, my partner finished his first ITI today [allow me a momentary cheers to Mike Monterusso - congratulations, babe!], and the first words he texted me from McGrath were “fu$%ing tussocks.”)
You may wonder what could cause such consternation. What In fact is a tussock? Well, they are ball-shaped clumps of sedges formed by Eriophorum, also called cottongrass. If you will, imagine top-heavy mushrooms that threaten your center of gravity to such a degree that no amount of balance can stabilize you atop their crests. Add to this that some are thigh high so trying to push a bike or pull a sled could drive one slightly mad. So, you can perhaps empathize with athletes who are going through dozens of miles of “fu$%ing tussocks.”
Beyond the tussocks, and focusing on the positive, some racers enjoyed a wondrous display of northern lights while traveling along what has been described as an ice highway with plenty of bison poop and bison holes. (Doesn’t that sound just lovely?) And that’s what the rest of the field can expect. Luckily for the skiers, there’s no snow, so they won’t be skiing through that bison poop. The skis will stay clean. (I really hope all of our skiing athletes either have really comfortable ski boots or brought their running shoes (join the foot people, we’re a friendly bunch!). Unluckily for anyone pulling a sled, however, expect some destruction. I hope repair kits, gorilla tape, and a healthy vocabulary of swear words were all part of the race preparation. It is a long journey for anyone from Rohn to Nikolai and for those on foot, or carrying skis, (remember what I said about foreshadowing) it can take three days of trudging along and cursing those “fu$%ing tussocks” and maybe the bison poop too.
Speaking of skiers, Tracie Curry is our lead female skier. She left Rohn after a super brief pit stop this evening. She was looking great, and prepared for some walking (perhaps a shuffle thrown in for fun). Resting at Puntilla Lake/Rainy Pass Lodge is Jessie Gladish who appears to have been preparing herself mentally for the “fu$%ing tussocks” (just what I’m imagining here) for nearly 10 hours. She’s got plenty of time. The Rohn cut-off isn’t until Saturday at 2pm. Just a word to the wise though, the tussocks don’t get any smaller the longer you wait. So, go get ‘em, Jessie! Our third female skier is Petra Francke who we previously reported is celebrating her anniversary with her husband, Jan. And they’re doing it the right way, seemingly enjoying their time on the trail and not rushing to the finish. It is special to be out in the backcountry of Alaska, disconnected from phones, and the constant demands on your time. All you have to do is take care of yourself and move forward. It’s liberating. I hope that’s how Petra and Jan feel too.
Moving on to our foot division, Magdalena Paschke is leading all the Wild Winter Women on foot on her way to Nome. She’s currently getting a well-deserved rest in Puntilla. She’ll be joined shortly by Kari Gibbons who is also on her way to Nome. (I’m really looking forward to hearing their take on the tussocks.) And not far behind Kari is Carol Seppilu from Nome (who may actually greet Magda and Kari when they arrive…wouldn’t that be cool?). Carol is competing in the 150-mile race and will soon be declared (in about two hours), the women’s champion for the “short” race. Here’s an early congratulations to Carol! Enjoy Rainy Pass Lodge and the beautiful Puntilla Lake. You earned it!
The rest of our women’s foot division is spread out between Finger Lake and Puntilla Lake. Sarah Hurkett has been resting in that great wall tent on Finger Lake for nearly 3 hours as of this writing and Carla Gabrielson for nearly two hours. Stacy Fisk and Melanie Vriesman are on the move with only a short 23.5 miles before reaching Puntilla Lake and Rainy Pass Lodge. I’m wishing them a cold, but not too cold, evening of walking with a magical display of northern lights to brighten the sky.
I always hate to mention it…and it would’ve been incredible if there were none … but we do have some scratches to report. I will say that it’s an unusually low number of scratches this year. So, that’s good, only four so far. Cheryl Wallace scratched at Finger Lake and Jason and Jennifer Hanson pulled out at Puntilla due to one of them developing a cough. Shaun Barnes also scratched at Puntilla. I’ll just add, as a person who has scratched twice at Puntilla, there really isn’t a better place to scratch if you’re going to do it. I hope everyone that left the race today enjoyed the parts that they experienced and have their credit cards ready when April 1 rolls around again (registration time!!).
We’re highlighting our women athletes primarily but I want to end on a high note and also just point out how wonderful our community/trail family is and what an example they set for how to go out into this world. Joshua Brown is biking to Nome and is currently enjoying the hospitality of the Nikolai checkpoint where Amber is grilling up a lot of hamburgers (leave some for the foot division, Amber!!). He has a friend (at least one), Jon Richner, who is also on the trail. Jon is doing the race in what I normally consider the best possible fashion (“fu$%ing tussocks” aside), on foot. Joshua Brown is concerned about his friend because of those “fu$%ing tussocks” and how long it will take Jon to get to Nikolai. So, Joshua is leaving Jon a bonus bag of food for him to enjoy once he gets to Nikolai because it’s a long 50 miles on foot to McGrath. That’s a true friend, Joshua. May we all follow Joshua’s example by thinking of others who may follow on the metaphorical trail behind us. Be generous and kind…and leave some yummy treats when you can.