Racers ready for rough return in Iron Dog 2022
Team 7’s sleds wait in the Garage in Nome for scheduled wrench time. Rough conditions have wreaked havoc on machines and humans during the 2022 Iron Dog Race. Courtesy AK Life
The current leaders of this year’s Iron Dog 2022 are no strangers to foul weather. Team 7’s Nick Olstad and Tyler Aklestad cruised to victory during the 2020 race, while encountering some of the most windy and snow-dense conditions of their careers. This year’s race is shaping up to be a lot of the same.
“I kind of hope it stays this way to McGrath,” said Olstad, just before he stepped into Nome’s Halfway Banquet and Awards on Tuesday evening. “Me and Tyler have ridden in this, we are used to it.”
The National Weather Service issued yet another winter weather advisory for the southern Seward Peninsula, which begins right at Norton Sound. The advisory calls for freezing rain, ice, and winds up to 35 mph, leading to drifting snow and ground-blizzard conditions in some areas. Snow could accumulate up to 20 inches in areas to the east – just where racers are headed.
Olstad said the new snow could soften the blow to what has proven to be a punishing trail thus far. Front-runners enjoy the softer conditions, but those in the back of the park are going to need to race cautiously.
“All that new snow is good at first and then it gets bumpy,” he said. “All the younger guys are good at racing on trails until they gotta make their own trail.”
The rough trail has indeed been beating up on the racers. Bryan Leslie of Team 14 took a hard get-off while crossing a short stretch of overflow at a place called Wall Walla just outside Elim. Team 24 Evan and Steffen Booth happened to see it take place, and Evan Booth said he thought he’d have to be calling a Medevac for a rescue (see the story about this at https://www.irondog.org/news/racers-reach-nome-as-iron-dog-spirit-soars).
Leslie recovered and managed to make it into Nome, where he checked into the hospital to be evaluated.
“The X-ray came back, and there’s nothing broken, but he’s got a couple of big hematomas, and he’s sore in his lower back,” said Leslie’s partner Casey Boylan. “We are trying to stay hopeful and everything, but we will make the call in the morning if we are going to continue.”
Boylan said this year’s race conditions are some of the most challenging, and mixed with flat light, it’s hard to see. He crossed Walla Walla with little problem, but the wake he left behind him stirred things up just enough to send Leslie off his sled.
“Conditions out there are like someone just dumped a bunch of concrete, with hard dips and edges and stuff,” he said. “I didn’t know snow could get that hard.”
Team 30, Blake Elder and Kody Worley, had simultaneous crashes outside of Koyuk so hard it blew the lenses out of their goggles. They are OK, but their sleds needed some TLC. Courtesy Penny Olanna
Team 30 rookie Kody Worley and veteran partner Blake Elder also had a scare. Coming out of Koyuk on Sunday, they both hit a dip and went flying simultaneously.
“We were running really clean yesterday and everything was going good,” Elder said. “Kody was behind me, and we both ended up hitting a ditch that we couldn’t see. It took awhile to collect ourselves, and thankfully the Dohrn brothers (Team 29) came by to check on us. But we slow-boated it into Nome from there.
In fact, Elder said, “We wrecked so hard that our goggle lenses blew out. We found them laying in the bushes, and put them back, but it was rough.”
“We are thankful we weren’t hurt,” Worley said. “From Koyuk all the way to Nome, every bump is super rock hard. It’s really unpredictable, and with the flat light you can’t see what you’re going to hit.”
Both Worley and Elder said they felt fine Tuesday night and are ready for the return route. They will, however, adjust their speed and riding to the conditions, knowing that some of the worst obstacles could be the ones they don’t see.
Tuesday evening, Olstad, too, was getting ready to hit the garage. Poor weather delayed the jet into Nome, so parts arrived late, pushing wrench time into late evening for all of the racers.
Nome locals and Iron Dog racers Mike Morgan, left, and Steffen Booth, far right, hand out helmets to children in Nome on Tuesday as part of Iron Dog’s kids’ helmet giveaway. Courtesy Taylor Booth
“We are just changing a ski, tightening chains and putting on new exhaust mufflers as a preventative,” he said. “We will be in and out quick.”
Media Contact: Bob Menne, Executive Director, Iron Dog Inc., (907) 854-0097 or (907) 563-4414, director@irondog.org
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