Irondog Finish in Fairbanks

The Irondog finished in Fairbanks Saturday.  Racers started coming in to the Pike´s landing finish line at noon.  The winner was team 16 Minnick and Olstad.  Second team was team 8 Aklestad and Johnson and 3rd team in was Van Meter and McKenna.  A lot of people came out to receive and greet the racers who finished this longest and toughest of snowmobile races.  Of the 41 teams that started half finished and the other half scratched on the way. You can see pictures from the finish and the banquet here:  http://icelandalaska.com/PHOTOGALLERY/tabid/1075/language/en-US/Default.aspx

This is our last entry for the Irondog Race.  We want to thank everybody that made this adventure of our possible, our sponsors, our family, friends, the Irondog organisation/volunteers, all the people we met on the way in villages and towns and all of you who visited our website and signed our guestbook.   

Last but not least we want to thank our team mates Wally and Wil Smith for coming with us on this adventure.  Really solid travel companions.  

"DREAM BIG AND DARE TO FAIL." 

"LIVE YOUR DREAM, LIVE ADVENTUROUSLY, LIVE YOUNGER AND LONGER."

Norman D. Vaughan

Regards,

Thóra Hrönn and Sigurjón.

 

Our long time travel companion and friend Ólafur Sigurgeirsson or Óli the Strong One or "STRONG" as he preferred to be addressed passed away two years ago.   His death was an untimely one.  We had so many dreams that we had not yet lived up in real life.

STRONG was special in many ways.  He was strong both physically as well as mentally. To sum him up in one sentence is not possible.  He was extremely well read in the Icelandic Sagas, the litterature that Icelandic identity rests upon.  He was also very well read in Arctic and Antarctic exploration and a great admirer of Vilhjlamur Stefansson the explorer of the North.

We had often talked about travelling togeather through the Yukon and Alaska during winter but this never came to be. 

To pay homage to our late friend we brought with us to Alaska this time a picture of STRONG.  This picture we brought to Nome and there we burned it and distributed the ash. 

Dear friend, up to now we have not been at peace with you parting with us but now we are. 

Thóra Hrönn and Sigurjón.

Going from Ruby to Galena Tuesday morning it was cold, COLD with capital letters. So cold that it finally terminated our journey yesterday.  Setting out from Ruby the temperature was -47 degrees Farenheit or -44 degrees Celcius up at the airport at 2 meters above the ground were the mesurement is taken.  Down on the river at the surface were the sleds were travelling the locals measured the temperature at -60 degrees Farenheit.  This equals -51 degrees Centigrade.  That is cold.  That is very cold.  Travelling at 30 mph the wind chill makes it equal to something like -107 Farenheit or -77 degrees Celcius. 

Up on the slope by the lodge our sleds worked perfect.  After driving on the Yukon river for 3-5 miles everything started changing.  The stearing started getting more heavy and the the suspension became less active.  Each of us thought something was wrong with our sleds but at the next stop everybody on the team was reporting the same.  In the end stearing became very difficult or almost impossible.  The special grease Northern Powersports had put in the spindles for us was not enough.  We continued making Galena 57 miles downstream in 2 hours.  When we arrived there the shocks were down and stearing was impossible.  We heard news of other teams having the same problem. Team 31 - The Wounded Warrior Team came out of the workshop after cleaning all grease out of the spindles to enable stearing again.  We wished them the best.

On the way down Thora Hronn got a little frostbite on her cheakbones but Wil Smith got a serious frostbite on his temple which grew larger by evening.  This morning, Wednesday,  the swelling had closed his right eye and before leaving we went to the medical center.  They did an excellent job but after driving two miles on the river with one eye closed and hitting ice chunks with his sled the team came to the conclusion that continuing on for two days to Fairbanks  402 miles would not be wise.  So officially we scratched yesterday  our Irondog participation in Galena and terminated our snowmachine trip 11:30 this morning.   

The ride down from Ruby was beautiful with the full moon setting down and the sun coming up. 

 As we made this decision out on the river we saw the Frontier plane coming in for landing and as Thora Hronn was already in Nome the brothers said go go go Sig and see if this is the plane for Nome, we will arrange for your sled to be sent to Anchorage.  I raced to the airport and got there just in time.  So here we are at Irondog HQ in Nome by the Bering Sea in good health and happiness. 

We will attent the Irondog Halfway Banquet tonight. Tomorrow morning the Pro Class Racers head out of Nome arriving in Fairbanks 863 miles later on Saturday.  Saturday evening the Finishing Awards Banquet will be held at Carlson Center in Fairbanks. 

See pictures Ruby - Galena and what finally stopped us in the photasection plus many other new albums there covering the trail from the Big Lake start.

More news will follow for the next four days. Keep on following our story and see more pictures from the finish in Fairbanks Saturday.

Thora Hronn and Sigurjon

The team is now asleep in Alaska but not all four in the same place.  Mechanical issues from Ruby to Galena yesterday (due to frost -60°C and -92°C with windchill) made it impossible for the team to head on to Unalakleet the same day.  Therefore the Iron Dog race headquarters stopped the team on going to Nome due to security reasons. 

The team had mechanical issues on all four sleds and had to stop in Galena for repair.  They will take layover in Galena and head on tomorrow.  The frost today went down to -60° on Celcius and with windchill on their speed temperature was -92°C.  This enourmous frost caused trouble in the FOX float shocks (front suspension) on the sleds and a layover is Galena.  First three teams made it Nome today between 14:00 and 15:00 Alaska Time, others are still enroute.  More news tomorrow.

Magnús