Iditasport 100K Race Report 2020

On Saturday January 18, 2020, I lined up to attempt to ski the Iditasport 100k with 30 other racers (6 skiers, 17 cyclists, and 7 runners), all of whom, save four, would successfully complete the race despite fairly tough conditions.

The Iditasport traces its history back to Tim Kelley's and Bob Baker's 1991 ski from Anchorage to Nome which is chronicled in Tim's excellent book, Trails That Never End.  The race continued as an annual event through 2001 when racer dissatisfaction with the then race director resulted in the creation of two new races to replace it (the Iditarod Trail Invitational to McGrath and Nome and the Susitna 100 which does a 100 mile loop centering on the Susitna River).  In 2014 Billy Koitzsch revived the Iditasport with a primary focus on two events: a 100k race to Yentna Station (and back) and a 200-mile race to Shell Lake (and back).  For a while the Iditasport also included longer events, but in recent years, Billy has refocused on the two core shorter distances, while the Iditarod Trail Invitational continues to offer longer races to McGrath and Nome.


The 2020 version of the Iditasport included only the 100k race.  The map below shows the route, and here is a link to a GPX file of the course for those intrepid adventurers who would like to give it a try.

I had two prior finishes as a cyclist:  in 2014 in the 100k and in 2015 in the 200-mile distance.  This was my first time skiing.

The race started on Saturday, but in an effort to allow a more relaxing morning and perhaps get a better night sleep, my wife, Dawn, and I rented a cabin Friday night at the Eagle's Quest Lodge where the start is located.  We had a lovely evening there and a great breakfast and lunch prepared by the lodge owner, Cindy.  The start was a few minutes after noon and the temperature was a balmy -20*F.  At the end of this post I have included a list of the gear I used to stay comfortable at and below that temperature. 

Here is what happened during the race:

Eagles Quest Lodge to the Susitna River (3 miles):

The first quarter mile or so was on rural roads that had just enough dirt and gravel that I decided to carry my skis and walk.  After that there is an old runway that fronts a small subdivision, it was covered with soft, skiable snow. After donning my skis and skiing the length of it, I was on a snow-machine trail which runs between the Willow swamp and the Susitna river.  This is a pretty, curvy trail that slopes slightly downhill for a few miles before descending sharply to the river.

The final descent was a bit too steep for me to easily ski down, so I took off my skis again and walked down it.  There was another skier ahead of me, Jacob Buller, who had to side step down the hill, so I didn't feel too bad about my tentative skiing.  Once past that, I was on on the river and headed towards the first checkpoint.

Susitna River to Checkpoint 1 (7 miles):  

Since the Iditasport doesn't require any qualifying races, Billy has taken a number of steps to help make sure the racers are safe.  These include good trail marking, an informative pre-race meeting, and, perhaps most important, an early safety check at about the 10-mile mark.   The stretch of the Susitna to that checkpoint was one the best of the whole route.  It included beautiful views, a slight down-river grade and a mild tail wind.  I skied for a while with Jacob and we chatted pleasantly about the trail and his ultra racing experience which included doing the While Mountain 100 on foot.

At about 3:00pm I arrived at the checkpoint where Billy enthusiastically greeted me and invited me into the heated tent where I took a short snack and hydration break.

Checkpoint 1 to Scary Tree (6 miles):

Scary Tree is the informal name of the confluence of the Yentna and Susitna rivers and is so called because it was long marked by a scary-looking tree that has since fallen down and disappeared into the river.

This section continued the pleasant conditions of the prior segment and I got into a comfortable rhythm.  In fact, I was doing so well that I completely missed the checkpoint.  One of the volunteers (I didn't catch his name) saved me a DQ by snow-machining out to me and directing me back to the checkpoint.  Once there I was greeted by Frank McGuire--a super nice guy--who helped inspire my interest in winter endurance racing events by taking me on a cycle tour of the Frosty Bottom race route in Anchorage way back in 2012.  In the warming tent, I met Kate Arnold who would win the woman's foot division and we were soon joined by Jacob who seemed to be doing well and was in good spirits.  After a pleasant break, I headed out onto the Yentna river at about 4:30pm.

Scary Tree to Yentna Station (16 miles):

This section involves heading up the Yentna river, so there is a slight upward grade combined with a prevailing headwind.  I pulled slightly ahead of Jacob on this stretch, so I mostly skied alone for the 5 hours it took me to get the turnaround lodge at Yentna Station.

Once the sun set and darkness fell, the temperature dropped precipitously, eventually reaching down below -30*F.  Because I was still maintaining a good pace I managed to stay reasonably warm in my shell jacket and light mid-layer.  But about an 90 minutes outside of Yentna the cold started getting to me.  Fortunately, I ran into Joshua Marshall at about that point.  He was a foot runner on his way back down the river after stopping briefly at Yentna Station.  He told me I didn't have long to go and that the food and warmth at the lodge would perk me right up.  His pep talk gave me the bump I needed, and before I knew it, I was removing my skis and heading into the lodge. 

The hospitality of the lodge owners--Dan and Jean Gabryszak--is legendary.  I had two of their grilled cheese sandwiches and some wonderful tomato soup after which the thought of returning to the cold at 10pm for an all-night ski, was more than I could handle.  I found a spot in the bunkhouse and settled in for a pleasant sleep.  The next morning Dan made me some wonderful scrambled eggs and after about 6 cups of coffee I was ready for the return ski.

Yentna Station to Scary Tree (16 miles):

I was out on the river by about 7:15 am.  It was still dark and pretty cold at -34*F--the coldest I had ever skied.  I decided to start off the day wearing my parka and was glad I did.  The shock of the cold river air made it hard for me to breath for the first minute or so, which was something I had not experienced before.  Once I caught my breath, those first few miles were pretty slow, but as my muscles loosened up and my activity warmed me, I started to feel better and got into a reasonably comfortable groove.  The headwind of the night before was now a helpful tailwind and an hour or so after the light arrived I saw two of the skiers in the race still headed towards Yentna Station--Scott Durka and Oliver Hansen.  They were dragging enormously overloaded sleds and as a result were going quite slow.  One of them asked me if they were about 4 miles from the lodge.  I didn't have the heart to tell them that it was almost twice that distance and just said I thought it was a further than that.  They would eventually finish the race over 47 hours after they started and just barely under the time limit.  Given the sleds that they were pulling it was quite a feet of endurance and tenacity.  I later learned that Scott and Oliver were pulling those huge sleds in training for a 100K race in Norway that requires you to pull 90lb sleds--wow!

About 3 hours later, I arrived at Scary Tree and chatted for a bit with Lorenzo, a doctor from Boston who had volunteered to the be the race medic.  He said that everyone he had checked had seemed to be in good condition, but that one guy up in Yentna may have had a bit of frostbite.  That struck me as an amazingly low incident rate given the temperatures.  It was a testament to Billy's race preparation.  In the warming tent, I spoke with Lisl Coady and Greg Mills, experienced Ultra skiers who had gotten to the checkpoint a bit before me.  They struck me as really nice people and I look forward to seeing Greg again in March when we are both skiing the Iditarod Trail Invitational.

The three of us headed out of the checkpoint and onto the Susitna River together at about 1:30pm.

Scary Tree to Checkpoint (6 miles):

While this section heads upriver, it did not include the headwinds that had plagued the trip up the Yentna the night before.  Skiing this section was fairly uneventful and when I arrived at the checkpoint I felt good enough that I only stopped briefly to chat with Billy before continuing on, without heading into the warming tent.

Checkpoint to End (10 miles):

The final segment took me about 3 and a half hours, which was about 30 minutes longer than it had taken in the other direction the morning before.  I was definitely slowing, but the turn off of the river and back onto the 3-mile trail back to Eagle's Quest lifted my spirit considerably--I was almost done.  Just as I got to the airstrip, I saw a foot racer coming toward me.  It was Amber Bethe.  Amber has done a fair amount of winter bike racing, but had switched to foot for the Iditasport because of an injury.  She'd made a slight wrong turn, and after getting her back on route we headed to the finish together.  It had been a great race and a truly fun experience!!!


Additional Information

Gear List:

In Pack (weight in pounds)

                               

2.20        Granite Gear Crown2 60L Backpack

0.88        Absolute Zero Mitts (XL);

2.00        Food

4.40        2 qts H2O in a 3 liter water bladder

0.25        Titanium 16 oz. Cup

0.35        Personal bag (lots of medicine, tooth brush, etc)

0.39        2 drymax pairs w 6 heavy duty bread bags

4.00        Rei -20 bag

1.46        Parka

1.32        Air Mattress (Recharge Sleeping Pad, Ultralight,)

0.11        NeoAir Mini Pump

0.20        TPaper

0.25        Tools and repair items

0.30        2*Flashing red lights (blackburn LOCAL 20 REAR LIGHT, 2*AA battery each)

0.44        4 pr. Hand warmers (@ 50 grams ea)

1.00        Patagonia DAS Insulated Pant - Men's

0.07        4 Trash compactor bags w/ draw strings

0.12        2*500ml empty bottles

On me 

               

2.21        Fischer Comfor Pro Boots

0.30        Head Lamp: 2 * Modoking CREE-XPG 140 Lumens

0.17        Thin Mask

0.93        4ucycling pants (xxxl)

1.20        Wool base layer and briefs

0.17        SockGuy Arm Warmers Lycra

0.41        Sams club down vest (lightweight)

0.05        MP3 player

0.09        Thin gloves

0.11        Ear Band

0.04        Nose Hat

0.22        Drymax socks

0.31        Garmin Trex 20

0.22        4 X AA -- Lithium

2.20        Salomon Snowscape 9 Skin Skis XXL

1.20        Warrior Adjustable Ski poles (140-160CM) by US ski pole company

0.10        Suspender-style reflectors

2.20        Condor Summit Zero Jacket (L)

0.10        $200 Cash, 2 credit cards, and driver's license.

0.44        4pr * hand warmers;

Full Results:

Skiers

1.       Jacob Buller 24h 51m 

2.       Lars Danner 31h 1m 

3.       Lisl Coady (FIRST FEMALE) 32h 23m

4.       Greg Mills 32h 23m 

5.       Scott Durka: 47h 15m

6.       Oliver Hansen 47h 15m

Bikers

1.       Dustin Eroh 7h 24m 

2.       Ferenc Jacso 7h 25m 

3.       John Notestine 8h 26m

4.       Fred Ripp 13h 1m

5.       Julie Christensen (1ST FEMALE) 14h 26m

6.       Derek  Ford 25h 25m

7.       Lee Fisher 26h 46m

8.       Todd Fisher 27h 42m

9.       Rachel Heath (2ND FEMALE) 27h 42m

10.   Samuel Kujat 28h 0m

11.   Robert Highland 28h 13m

12.   Jennifer Neuberger (3RD FEMALE) 28h 38m

13.   Nate Bryan 41h 53m 

Scratched:

Andy Anderson

James Bratscher

Peter Houston

Kat Roch

 Runners

1.       Matthew Blood 15h 56m

2.       Joshua Marshall 19h 0m

3.       Kate Arnold 24h 51m (1ST FEMALE)

4.       Tony Covarrubias 29h5m

5.       Jonathan Richner 29h 40m

6.       Josh Brown 29h 55m

7.       Amber Bethe (2ND FEMALE) 31h 1m