Klondike Road Relay
[Note: Coincidentally, we had two people from our Once in a Blue Moose office participate in the Klondike Road Relay this year. Today we are featuring Kyla's story, and our next Alaska Life will feature Carmen's story.]
Photos & Story by Kyla
This summer was the first I had heard of the Klondike Road Relay when my good friend and running partner asked if I wanted to join a team. The race begins in Skagway, Alaska, ends in Whitehorse, Canada, and mimics the Chilkoot Trail followed by gold rush stampeders of 1898. The relay, 109 miles total, is run along a paved highway throughout the night and into the next day. It is split into 10 legs, varying in length between 5.6 and 16.0 miles and covers challenging terrain and beautiful scenery.
We had a team of 10 runners and one rental motorhome. Some of us had been runners for years, and some just started running three weeks before, but we were all excited for the experience. We left Anchorage late Wednesday evening and drove a few hours before we stopped along the Glenn Highway and slept for the night. We picked up Thursday morning, had some beautiful views of Matanuska Glacier, and adventured to Tok by early afternoon. The boys wanted to watch some football, so the gals got some fresh air with a walk on the Alaskan Highway. After dinner we were back on the road and we drove through the night to get to Skagway by 11am. Skagway was incredible - it is a cute little town at the end of a fjord in the Inside Passage. The race started at 6:00pm, so after a gentle jog around town and some down time, we dropped off our first runner at the start and piled into the motorhome.
We picked up our runner about 2 miles out of town, when the road begins its major climb into White Pass. As the support vehicle, we would drive ahead and about every two miles, get out with water, energy goo, and cheers for our runner as he/she passed. We started with 15 other teams, so the side of the road got pretty busy at times. Eventually it began raining and the darkness set in. Our 3rd through 7th leg runners had to run in the middle of the night with headlamps on fairly uneven roads. One runner was falling asleep on her 16 miles, so she had the motorhome follow her, headlights lighting the way and another runner had a bull moose step in front of her a few feet before the finish line. I was running the last leg, so I tried to get some sleep during the night, but in the end was just getting thrown around in a daze in the back of the motorhome. So, like most everyone else in the race, I ran on a few hours sleep in 48 hours, but I had a double rainbow in front of me, sun on my back, and caffeinated goo in my pocket. The last mile was along the beautiful Yukon River and the rest of my team was there to meet me as I crossed the finish line. We were all exhausted and sore, but proud of what we accomplished. We then headed 18 miles north to Takhini Hot Springs which is just what our sore muscles needed. After a nap were were ready to hit the awards ceremony and dance.
The next morning was beautiful, and after a coffee and a short walk around downtown Whitehorse, we hit the road. Driving in the daylight we were able to enjoy the scenery and the wildlife - a coyote came right up to us. We made it back to Anchorage about 4:00am and spent much of the drive talking about how to improve on next year's adventure.