Day 9: More Than a Race
(photo: Sunny Stroeer)
Alaska changes you. Something about it gets in your blood and draws you back. Whether you’ve spent time on the trail, in the communities, or simply viewed its vast wilderness from a distance, it’s overwhelmingly vast and raw. It pulls you in and offers you the opportunity to experience adventures you can only dream of. It takes you back in time, for not even time can change the Alaska interior. If you appreciate feeling small in a big, beautiful world, experience Alaska. It’s simple and rugged, it’s harsh and unforgiving, it offers you something you won’t find anywhere else, but you have to be there to find out what that is.
This year, ITI athletes have been treated to a winter not seen in over half a century. Extreme winds and brutal temperatures have been relentless. Blowing and drifting snow make navigation difficult and progress slow. The eerie stillness of deep cold. The brittle snow sounds like glass breaking beneath you. The deafening wind that disorients your senses. There is no room for error on this trek.
Regardless of mode or distance, whether a finish or a DNF (did not finish), this experience is life-changing for ITI athletes and volunteers. Each attempt or completion is a journey of learning and growing, more tools and knowledge for the next adventure, more friendships forged through shared experiences. If you haven’t experienced trail community before, this is what it’s all about. It’s a strange mix of being alone, but together. You go for solitude, embrace the loneliness, and walk away part of a family. You take care of yourself, and you look out for others. You are alone, but someone has your back. This is the delicate balance of these extreme endeavors.
To sum up our race progress so far: the 150 is complete with seven finishers.
Nine athletes remain on course for the 350 (cutoff is Wednesday, March 4th at 2:00 pm AKST). Since last night’s update, we have had three more official finishers for the 350. Congratulations to Paul Turner (Molalla, Oregon) on foot and rookie Caydon Boll (Rio Rancho, New Mexico) on bike and Doug Amidon (White Mountains, Alaska) on ski. Also on the final stretch to McGrath in the 350-mile race tonight is Casey Bredeson (Cavalier County, North Dakota, bike) and Kristoffer Jonson (Seattle, Washington, foot).
Also noteworthy is the strong progress of five 1000-mile racers who are currently enjoying a well-deserved break in McGrath - racers arriving in McGrath in the past 24 hours include Ryan Wanless (Sioux Falls, South Dakota, bike), Herman Watson (Bozeman, Montana, foot), and Takao Kitada, (Japan, foot). Soon to join them are Troy Szczurkowski (Australia, bike), Beat Jegerlehner (Boulder, Colorado, foot), and Mark Hines (UK, foot), who all left Nikolai today. Five additional racers in the 1000-mile race are resting in Nikolai.
Gavin Hennigan (Ireland) is currently our only athlete pressing on towards Nome past McGrath. He is on foot, making slow and steady progress through fresh snow on an ungroomed trail. Yesterday, Jay Petervary (Victor, Idaho) attempted to continue on by bike from McGrath - he made 21 miles past McGrath and ascended a long, graded hill twice, only to meet deep snow, forcing him to make the difficult decision to retreat to McGrath and scratch from the race. All racers are hopeful that the Iditarod trailbreakers come soon.
We have four women left on the course. Sunny Stroeer (Kanab, Utah) and Gillian Smith (Whitehorse, Canada) are still going strong and making their way to McGrath for a 350-mile foot finish. After long, long days with little sleep, Sunny was able to spend some extra time in Nikolai today. She has done an amazing job managing the temperatures and pushing through fatigue while taking advantage of good rest when possible. She has one final 47-mile push to the finish. Go get it, Sunny! Gillian has shown a steady, strong style throughout her race. She is an ITI veteran, having done the 350 on a bike last year. This is her first time attempting it on foot, and she is crushing it. Her pace has been consistent, and we’ve heard that she’s feeling great. In the 1000-mile race, Team Kendall and Maya are on a bike working together to traverse the miles to Nome. They spent a little extra time at Bear Creek cabin today solving a leaky tire, but they both made good time and arrived in Nikolai this evening.
The Nikolai checkpoint (mile 260) is welcoming its final influx of racers as the cutoff looms at 2:00pm AKST tomorrow. Only four racers are still making their way there. Gillian Smith and Luke Thomas are less than two miles out. John Clark is about 8 miles out, and James Mowbray has about 23 miles to Nikolai.
Watching dots progress and hanging on to tidbits of info from the field has us all on the edge of our seats! We are personally and collectively cheering on each racer, praying for safety, and rooting for success.
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 Rashelle Hintz
Thanks to Wild Winter Women - Allison Carolan, Amanda Harvey, Faye Norby, Jan Redmond Walker, Jessica Roschlan, Kari Anne Gibbons, Laura Wiesmann Hrubes, Leah Gruhn, Lynn Hall, Madeline Harms, Rashelle Hintz, Rebecca McVay-Brodersen, and Sarah Bergstrom.