Seward Centennial Ultra Marathon

August 30, 2003

Seward Centennial Ultra marathon from Crow Pass to Seward

06:18 Trailhead to Crow Pass. Claire LeClaire and Fred Moore take off running for Crow Pass when it is just light enough to see without a flashlight. The expect to run to the six miles from the trailhead near Girdwood to Crow Pass and back in about 1.5 hours. However, the rest of Fred's team hasn't arrived yet. When he does come running down the trail, Justin Moore and Roger Kemppel have arrived. Justin's rig has a rowing scull and whitewater kayak on top. Inside are a state of the art mt. bike and road bike. The 'Iditarod Geezers' are prepared.

Justin is just getting his contacts in when Fred arrives, "Hey, where is my team." I left Seward at 03:30 to drive here for the Seward Centennial Ultra marathon and like the past five days it rained most of the way. So I talk to Justin about the leg we will bike from Crow Pass trailhead to Turnagin Pass and the Johonson Pass trail, "It is Alaska's most dangerous highway. We get to bike through the 'Death Zone' on wet roads during the busiest morning of the Labor Day weekend. What do you think?"

"Sounds good lets go." Justin missed a calling he could have been a smokejumper.

Our team 'Two Jumper's and a Babe' is composed of Claire, her husband John LeClaire and myself. John and I were both McCall and Fairbanks smokejumpers. Claire is an elite ultra-marathoner and mother of a two year old daughter, Aubrey. Claire finishes the run just two minutes behind Fred. Then I take off on my 10 year old mt. bike that I will ride both the rutted mt. road and the Seward Highway on. I realized we were in for some competition when I saw Justin take off on his mt. bike like he was riding in the world downhill championships. He switched to his road bike on the pavement and averaged 18 mph including the section up to Turnagin Pass. I thought I was 'trucking' to do 12 mph in that section. These are the same tires and seat I used for portions of my 1362 ultra marathon across the Rockies. Turnagin Arm is beautiful even with all the traffic as a Bore Tide is coming in and Beluga's can be seen in the water.

We have to bike past the 'Death Zone' where six people died in two separate accidents just recently. There is a shrine on one side of the road and the highway in both places still have debris from the vehicles colliding head on and innocents dying. After bicycling in sections of four states this past summer across the Rocky Mountains I would give Oregon an A, Washington and Idaho B, Montana a C and Alaska an F for how they treat bicyclists on the road. Essentially in Alaska, motors always have the right of way, the most aggressive driver gets his way, and you just need to get out of the way.

I arrive at Johnson Pass Trailhead at 10:00. Justin got here 40 minutes ago. Claire takes off at a run trying to catch Roger. They have 23 miles to run before reaching the fish hatchery on Upper Trail Lake. I first met Claire when we competed in the Hope to Homer AMWC in 1997. She was racing with Angelica Castenada, the world's reining triple iron man champion. They were among the top finishers in a race where less than have of those who have started have even finished during the 22 years the event has been held and this past summer four were rescued by helicopter.

At Upper Trail Lake I paddle my sea kayak to a point 1.5 miles down the Johnson Pass Trail and across from Moose Pass. Justin and Fred are already there and have been waiting for Roger for 40 minutes. I knew Fred and Roger were very competitive but Justin Moore, a Soldotna Orthodontist, surprised me with his competitive edge. He was sitting in his rowing scull ready to go when Fred yelled that Roger was running down the trail. That is the last I would see him in this race as he rowed quickly across Upper Trail Lake through the connecting river to Lower Trail Lake. Then he would use his whitewater kayak on Trail River and scull again across Kenai Lake before the wind came up. Fred Moore ran the Iditarod Trail up Snow River and over to Bear Lake.

Roger ran the 23 mile Johnson Pass trail section in just four hours. The middle seven miles had not been brushed and was a tangle of Pushki. One hiker told me of going through this section, getting Pushki on his legs, which became infected and bothered him for a years.

Roger and I have a few minutes to talk on the trail. It is obvious he is in excellent shape. We talk of skiing and I tell him of skiing for Univ. of Utah and Univ. de Grenoble. I am interested to find out he enjoys skiing Alta as next year will be my 50th year of skiing this area where I grew up. I also learned that he climbed with his daughter Nina in areas I was familiar with in southern Utah. Roger takes off running and I wait for my teammate.

When Claire arrives I kayak across Upper and Lower Trail Lakes including the section of river between. The water is high enough it can be sneaked on the left. John mt. bikes the section to Kenai Lake where Claire will use her rowing scull.

The wind has come up to 12 mph and there is a 2' chop on Kenai Lake. Claire does not hesitate and starts rowing across. We have discussed this at length and I suggest that she stick to the eastern shore. A swim in the Kenai Lake with no dry suit is not survivable. However, Claire has rowed for years in the ocean near her then Kodiak home and takes the straightest shot across.

She is rowing strong when she arrives at Primrose and hands off to John. We are carrying a letter and a vial of gold, like the mail runners on the historic Iditarod that ran from Seward to Nome. From Mile 12, I run the trail that goes up the SF Snow River and to Bear Lake. It is a section the Seward Trailblazers and FS have worked on for years and this will have a free shuttle for hikers. However, I am tired enough that I continue to stumble. There is bear sign everywhere that keeps me alert. One mile from the road at Bear Lake, my wife, Deborah and son, Pyper, appear on the trail. There are here to run in with me and Pyper gets to carry the letter and gold the last mile.

John bikes to the Benny Benson monument and then the three of us bike down 4th where the street dance is going on. A score of people come over to congratulate us.

During the last 11 years I have been privileged to run ultra marathons across Alaska and the West. Competing in the Hope to Homer, Iditasport, Dyea to Dawson, Nebesna to McCarthy I have been fortunate to race with world class and against world class competitors. The Seward Centennial Ultra marathon was a Classic.

Team Iditarod Geezers Start 06:18 Finish 19:30 Fred Moore, Seward Roger Kemppel, Anchorage Justin Moore, Soldotna

Team Two Jumpers and a Babe Start 06:18 Finish 21:10 Clair LeClaire, Anchorage John LeClaire, Anchorage Jerry Dixon, Seward

Sincerely, Jerry S. Dixon VP Seward Trailblazers
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