Long Time Listener, First Time Caller

Isn’t that what they say in those call-in radio shows? Well, long-time dot watcher and first-time contributor here! If you’re a fellow dot watcher you’ve probably settled into a daily pattern that’s become more sustainable after the constant dot watching (refresh, refresh, refresh) of the first couple days. Course speeds now average around 2 miles an hour in the 350 distance as most of the bikers have made it to McGrath and skiers and walkers continue their journey. Life for our racers has taken on a similar sustainability as life on the trail settles into a routine.

Scott Hoberg, our first foot finisher, made it to McGrath just after 8pm yesterday (February 28). Scott was also the first person to take the overland route to McGrath (the orange route on Trackleaders) as opposed to the river. After having made it within 25 miles of McGrath in 2018, not sure if it was unfinished business or good intel that led to his choice. Tracie Curry, on skis, made a similar choice and is not only the 350-mile women’s ski winner but the new 350-mile women’s ski record holder with an unofficial time of 5 days, 22 hours, 4 minutes, knocking a full day off the previous record of 6 days, 23 hours, and 13 minutes held by Robin Beebee and Christy Marvin.

This was not predicted to be a great year for skiing given the lack of snow along parts of the course. Hopefully Leah can get an interview with one of the three women skiers in this year’s 350-mile race for the WWW YouTube channel. Jessie Gladish, the next female skier, just left Nikolai and is poised to become the second woman to complete the 350-mile race in all three disciplines, having completed it on foot in 2018 and on bike in 2024. She has also completed the Yukon Arctic Ultra in all three disciplines. Our final skier, Petra Francke, is 40 miles outside of Nikolai, completing this year’s race as a 10th Anniversary trip with her husband Jan!

For our bikers, Beth Freymiller, Amanda Harvey, Lynn Hall, and Colleen Kersgard made it to McGrath, almost closing out the field on our women’s bike division. Two women bikers, Janice Tower and Julie Perilla Garcia have left McGrath on the next stage of their journey to Nome. The Iditarod sled dog race starts tomorrow in Fairbanks and will join the ITI race route in Ruby.

Kari Gibbons and Magdalena Paschke, both in the 1000-mile race, continue the push from Rohn to Nikolai. While many of us were sleeping, the three 350-mile female foot racers made it into Rohn well under the 2pm cut off this afternoon. If you’re a family or friend dot-watcher, you’ve probably asked what on earth made them decide to do a race this long? Perhaps you’re a previous racer who’s been asked this question. For most, the choice isn’t an immediate one. There were likely early warning signs such as a marathon, an ultra race, and another ultra race. Each new goal, once faced and overcome, leads to the next and one day they find themselves signing up for a 350-mile race, in the middle of winter, in Alaska.

These goals though, aren’t always met with immediate success. Each of our three female 350-mile racers has tackled this race before and come up short. So we are excited to watch them tackle this difficult race again. Getting to Rohn was always going to be a mental challenge for Melanie Vriesman and Stacy Fisk, after being thwarted by weather and difficult conditions over Rainy Pass in 2024. Sarah Hurkett is still resting in Rohn and has an interesting push-sled set-up that, after seeing it at the start, I want to know more about (and am hoping it performs well in the tussocks)! Speaking of which, the fu$%ing tussocks are not going to make the trek out of Rohn easy, but we know they are tough and determined women!