It seemed like there was a lot more awareness of the Iditarod Trail Invitational this year. I’ve followed the race for the past few years and I don’t remember seeing nearly as many newspaper articles as there were this year. I wanted to make sure I had a copy of this stuff for future reference. So here is my scrapbook of this year’s race.
Race News and Discussion
ITI message board comments for me: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3
Photos and Video
YouTube video of Bill Merchant’s pass ordeal
Racer Reports
Jay & Tracey P: Tidbits | Full Report
Phil Hofstetter: Recap 1 | Recap 2 | Recap 3 | Tim’s Nome finish
Lou Kobin: Recap 1 | Recap 2 | Recap 3 Lou has some of the best ‘in-race’ photos I’ve seen
Yair Kellner: Rumors of my demise…
Geoff Roes: Interview with Jeff Oatley
Jill Homer: All of her February and March posts
Press
Athletes max out Trail Invitational field
Anchorage Daily News 01/03/09 23:58:40
Considering the Alaska Trail Invitational, the 350-mile race from Knik to McGrath along the Iditarod Trail that begins March 1? Forget it. Fifty hardy bikers, runners and skiers from Alaska, the Lower 48 and overseas have already filled out the 50-racer field. And what a loaded field it is.
Iditarod Trail Invitational Ready To Roll
Anchorage Daily News 01/19/09 22:53:01
While the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Invitational slog to Nome which begins March 1, a week before the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race,remains the domain of just a few endurance studs, the shorter 350-mile race to McGrath features a stellar field littered with former champs.
The loneliness of the long-distance winter race
Anchorage Daily News 02/23/09 21:32:10
The hardest race to run is the one waged in your mind, and it is for this reason the Iditarod Trail Invitational is the hardest race in the world. Forget the distance of hundreds of miles, the brutal Alaska winds, the subzero cold, the bad trail, and the danger of avalanche and overflow. Those are the smallest of the challenges to be met.
Basinger swaps bike for skis in race to Nome
Anchorage Daily News February 27th, 2009 12:21 AM
The rare endurance animals who finish the Iditarod Trail Invitational to McGrath or Nome can count themselves among the toughest bikers, skiers or runners in the world. And at least one aims to show he’s pretty flexible too. Anchorage bicyclist extraordinaire Peter Basinger, who owns the Invitational record to McGrath — a stunning 3 days, 5 hours, 40 minutes — will slip out of the pedals and strap on the skis Sunday when Alaska’s longest human- powered race begins at 2 p.m. on Knik Lake.
Oatley plows through snow for race lead
Anchorage Daily News 03/02/09 22:34:19
Picking his way through deep snow, Fairbanks cyclist Jeff Oatley is dominating the field in the early stages of the Iditarod Trail Invitational.
Oatley rolling rapidly in Iditarod Invitational
Anchorage Daily News 03/03/09 23:01:35
Fairbanks bicyclist Jeff Oatley extended his ridiculous lead in the Iditarod Trail Invitational to more than 11 hours on Tuesday as he headed into the treacherous Dalzell Gorge reported to be blanketed with deep snow.
Iditarod Trail missing under deep snow
Anchorage Daily News 03/04/09 22:10:14
Kathi Merchant with the Iditarod Trail Invitational reported heavy snow falling in McGrath on the north side of the Alaska Range late Wednesday afternoon. Merchant was reached by telephone as she waited to greet mountain bikers, skiers and runners coming north on the historic Iditarod route from Knik. She was starting to get a little worried.
Storm traps wilderness racers on Iditarod Trail
Anchorage Daily News 03/05/09 11:03:48
Along the Iditarod Trail, a race was on today to reach mountain bikers, skiers and runners trapped by snows high in the Alaska Range as the notorious Rainy Pass winds began to blow. Kathi Merchant with the Iditarod Trail Invitational said none of the 20 or so people on the trail appeared to be in imminent danger, but they were all stuck. The invitational, in cooperation with the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, was trying to get to them to provide a trail over the pass and down to a one-room log cabin on the Tatina River at Rohn. Jeff Oatley from Fairbanks, a mountain biker who led the race to Rainy Pass Lodge on Puntilla Lake near the south end of the pass, left that checkpoint at 3 a.m. Tuesday. By this morning, he’d been on the trail more than 48 hours.
Wilderness racer gets through Rainy Pass
Anchorage Daily News 03/05/09 21:39:25
An effort to reach mountain bikers, skiers and runners trapped by deep snow along the Iditarod Trail high in the Alaska Range appeared to have succeeded Thursday, but the only one known for sure to be through treacherous Rainy Pass was a hedge-fund trader from the Boston area.
Wilderness race leaders power through pass
Anchorage Daily News 03/06/09 11:24:21
The storm that stranded racers in the Iditarod Trail Invitational high in the Alaska Range on Thursday was easing today, but the race lead that Fairbanks cyclist Jeff Oatley sweated so hard to obtain in the 350-mile, human-powered wilderness epic appeared gone, swallowed up by the deep snow that stalled the race.
Iditarod Trail Invitational cyclist has been missing since Tuesday
Anchorage Daily News 03/07/09 00:02:06
Nineteen competitors in the 350-mile Iditarod Trail Invitational race from Knik to McGrath were on the trail out of Rohn on the north side of the Alaska Range on Friday afternoon, but one competitor was notably missing. Australian cyclist Yair Kellner hasn’t been seen by anyone since he left the community of Skwentna, about 100 miles north of Anchorage, at 1 a.m. Tuesday. He is now almost 100 miles behind the tail-end Invitational walkers and concern for his welfare is growing.
Missing endurance racer rescued
Anchorage Daily News 03/08/09 22:36:32
After spending a couple days shivering in his sleeping bag and building snow caves to block the chilling wind, Australian Yair Kellner was rescued near the historic Iditarod Trail on Saturday morning.
Oatley wins ‘short’ Iditarod Invitational race
Anchorage Daily News 03/10/09 21:57:50
Fairbanks cyclist fastest to Mcgrath; 600 miles more for some. Oatley, who led by as much as 11 hours in the first portion of the race, persevered to win in five days, 19 hours and 34 minutes despite being bogged down for days by winter storms that all but obliterated the Iditarod Trail between Rainy Pass and Rohn.
From a racer’s perspective
Jill Homer, Juneau Empire Friday, March 13, 2009
A rookie no more, Juneau biker felt ready for all 350 miles of the 2009 Iditarod Trail Invitational. “When I finally worked the boot open, my foot wouldn’t budge. As I worked my wet sock down and wiggled and yanked my foot, nothing happened. My socks were frozen to the inside of my boot. And my foot, I realized with sinking dread, was frozen to the inside of my socks.”
Invitational cyclist rescued
Anchorage Daily News 03/14/09 03:21:23
Cyclist Billy Koitzsch was limping along the most desolate stretch of the Iditraod Trail in one of the most desolate corners of Alaska on Thursday when rescue arrived in the guise of a film crew on a snowmachine.
No cause for alarm on Iditarod Invitational
Anchorage Daily News March 30th, 2009 08:39 PM
As nasty and perilous as portions of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race were this year, consider this: The Iditarod Trail Invitational was far worse. “For racers who feel the world needs to know where they are in real time, there are other races out there for them,” said Invitational co-director Bill Merchant, who plans to ban satellite signalling and tracking devices from the race next year because of problems they caused this year. The devices have uneven performance in Alaska, he said, and can cause all sorts of confusion when people use devices like the SPOT personal tracker to signal for help only to have the signal subsequently blink in and out.
Snow machine: Jeff Oatley’s Rig for the Iditarod Trail Invitational
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