Day 4: Wind chill, winners, wayward travelers, and a potential women’s record

852 miles to Nome, at Finger Lake checkpoint (photo: Maya Krause)

Today has been windy and cold. Really cold, and tonight the forecast is for temps as low as -42 deg F at Nikolai (mi 259) and windchills as low as -55 deg F at Puntilla (mi 153); at Puntilla, the wind is blowing right at the faces of racers going up to Rainy Pass. As per Maya Krause (Brazil, 1,000, bike) regarding conditions earlier today between Finger Lake (mi 124) and Puntilla, “Wind wasn’t bad in the trees, but in the open areas, the wind was really, really ripping and intense. Super cold.” From another racer on foot near Finger Lake, “Trail is good!!! Windy as heck.” as well as other words that are not fit to print here. The wind and cold were so intense today that multiple racers set out from Puntilla, only to decide to turn around to go back to the cabins at Puntilla to rest and wait for better conditions.

Cold conditions have also led to cramped and sardine-like conditions overnight at some checkpoints, with some checkpoints (e.g. Puntilla) housing more than 20 racers at times. Rohn (mi 188), on the other hand, has a strict first in, first out policy, which means that for racers arriving at the tent, there is a guaranteed bed on pine boughs in the heated tent, but it also means that when someone comes in off the trail, that it is time for the person to leave who has been there the longest. When that happens and it is your time to leave, you can either hit the trail or go and sleep outside in the -30 deg F cold dark night. Most racers will choose to get moving on the trail, even if it’s 2 am (which is what happened to Tiziano Mulonia (Italy, 1,000, bike) and others this morning).

Back on Sunday and Monday, the portion of the trail located in the interior, north of the Alaska Range, got about a foot of snow Sunday and Monday, from the pass to McGrath (mi 306). On Tuesday the ITI Logistics Lead Adrian and a friend drove their snowmachines from Rohn to McGrath and back for supplies. Their snowmachine tracks have been the only traffic to pack the trail from Rohn to McGrath, making travel exceptionally slow for the lead racers in that portion of the course.

The trail was so slow that bikers looked to be going at walking speeds going down from Rainy Pass, whereas they would be averaging 10 mph or more under better conditions.

Despite the exceptionally challenging conditions, we have a men’s winner in the 350-mile race on bike! This evening Justinas Leveika (Lithuania) won the bike race in a time of 3 days, 4 hours, and 48 minutes. Although a rookie at the ITI, Justinas is quite possibly the global king of ultra-distance bikepacking races and has had many victories and course records in recent years (including the Tour Divide course record previously held by the late Mike Hall, considered unbeatable by many). Justinas rode a borrowed Trek Farley, provided by the Trek Bicycle Store of Anchorage, and local Billy Flamingo's tires. He was very excited by the time that he got to Nikolai last night, since he had a ~ 28-hour push from Rohn. When he got to Nikolai, he was content to rest overnight so that he could see the last 50 miles of the trail in the daylight. He said that this race had given him a variety of conditions - good trail, then warm and soft, then snowy with a bit of freezing rain on top and then very cold. He said that he would be excited to see McGrath and stay there to welcome in some friends. Justinas, welcome to the ITI Family, congrats on your race, and thanks for the inspiration!

We also have our men’s winner of the men’s 150-mile race on bike! Yesterday Shane Cramer (Anchorage, AK) won the bike race in a time of 1 day, 21 hours, and 40 minutes. Kudos to you!

Tonight the tracker of Meg Inokuma, an ITI rookie from Palmer, Alaska, puts her at mi 139.5 but she has been reported to be going over Rainy Pass (~mi 172). If it’s correct that she is going over Rainy Pass now, Meg may be on track to break the women’s 350 foot record, held by Anne Ver Hoef of Alaska, who in 2013 recorded a time of 6 days, 12 hours and 20 minutes! She had been walking with Scott Hoberg (Duluth, Minnesota) in previous days, who has been leading the 350-mile men’s foot race. Meg loves to meet new people and see scenery that she has never seen before, and she is thriving. Let’s go Meg!!

An additional challenge that has affected many racers has been route-finding. Most racers will stick to the Iditarod Trail most of the time, but there are lots of other trails in the area. There have been numerous times in the past few days when racers have deviated from the Iditarod Trail, and it’s hard to know if the decision to deviate from the Iditarod Trail is inadvertent, or if the intention is the hope of a shortcut or easier trail. In some cases, folks who follow a spur trail decide to turn around and backtrack to rejoin the Iditarod Trail, but in other cases, they have kept going forward on the alternate trail until it rejoins the Iditarod Trail. These detours and bonus miles can be irritating at the time but hopefully make for good stories later.

What are the women (as per the trackers)?

1,000 bike - (1) Maya Krause (Brazil) and (1) Kendall Park (St. Louis, Missouri) are together and resting at Puntilla (mi 153), ready to make a push for the pass.

350 bike - (1) Ginny Robbins (Victor, Idaho) is in 8th place overall, has had a heckova push from Rohn (mi 188) to Nikolai (mi 259) and will be at Nikolai soon; (2) Petra Davis (Anchorage, Alaska) is resting at Bear Creek Cabin (mi 228); (3) Frances DeBlare (Palmer, Alaska) is resting at Shell Lake Lodge (mi 103).

350 foot - (1) Meg Inokuma (Palmer, Alaska)’s tracker puts her at mi 139.5 but she has been reported to be going over Rainy Pass (~mi 172) - see above comment about the women’s 350 foot record; (2) Natalie Taylor (UK) and (2) Emily Humberston (Wausau, Wisconsin) are resting at Puntilla (mi 153), ready to make a push for the pass; (4) Laura Trentani (Italy) is on her way to Puntilla (mi 153) after a detour earlier today; (5) Hilary Kunz, (5) Carol Seppilu, and (5) Gillian Smith and are all resting at Finger Lake (mi 124); and (8) Sunny Stroeer is on her way to Finger Lake (mi 124).

350 ski - (1) Tracie Curry (Fairbanks, Alaska) is resting at Puntilla (mi 153) with Maya and Kendall; and (2) Laura Rushfeldt (Boston, Massachusetts) is resting at Finger Lake (mi 124), a place that she knows well from volunteering that checkpoint in last year’s ITI.

150 foot - (1) Annie Connelly (Palmer, Alaska) is resting at Finger Lake (mi 124); (2) Elsa Rabou (France) and (3) Jen Novobilskis (Anchorage, Alaska) are on their way to Finger Lake (mi 124), and (4) Sarah Kingstrom (Nome, Alaska) is resting at Shell Lake Lodge (mi 103).

Stay tuned for more updates and stories from the trail, the next of which is coming tomorrow night. Until then, you can follow the racers on the tracker.

Written by Leah Gruhn.

Thanks to Wild Winter Women - Allison Carolan, Amanda Harvey, Faye Norby, Jan Redmond Walker, Jessica Roschlan, Kari Anne Gibbons, Laura Wiesmann Hrubes, Lynn Hall, Madeline Harms, Rashelle Hintz, Rebecca McVay-Brodersen, and Sarah Bergstrom.