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Going for the Gold!International Klondike Road RelayBy Sandra Scott
We knew something was “a-foot” when we got off the ferry from Juneau. Vans and RVs blazoned with bravado team signs, mostly handmade, lined the side streets – “Take No Prisoners,” “Smokin’ Ole Geezers,” and “Survivors.” My husband claimed, “It seems that a crucial part of this competition is creating a catchy name.
One of the racers, jumped in on our conversation with Buckwheat, added, “Coming down that hill into Miles Canyon on the way into Whitehorse, you are hurting but you look up and it’s like, ‘Wow, this is a pretty neat place.’ It gives me the extra shot of adrenaline I need to finish.”
More to see: Full and half-day round trip excursions are available on the scenic White Pass & Yukon railroad route. Prices start at $89. Eat at the Red Onion Saloon, now a National Historic Building but once Skagway’s most elusive bordello. Accommodations are available at The Westmark, www.westmarkhotels.com, (800) 544-0970. Photos by Sandra Scott and John Scott |
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My husband and I arrived in Skagway, AK,
after Labor Day knowing it was the end of the season. We didn’t realize Skagway
ends the season with a bang – the bang of a starting pistol. The long
“hoooot-hoooot” of the steam engine and the firing of the pistol signals the
start of the Klondike Trail of ’98 International Road Relay and the end of the
summer season. 
If I ever wanted to run a race, which I
don’t, I would join “Team Diva” or “Good Women are Hard to Find” for their relay
run through the night that follows the historic way to the gold fields from
Skagway to Whitehorse in Canada’s Yukon Territory. The magic of running in the
crisp clear night air with the aurora borealis illuminating the night sky has to
be an experience that can not to be surpassed. 
We knew just where to get “run-down” on the
day’s events. We headed to the rustic Skaway Tourist Office, where “Buckwheat”
Donahue, Executive Director of the Skagway Convention and Visitors Bureau and
the town’s colorful “everything man,” explained, “Most people are running for
the fun of it. Can there be a more beautiful or historic place to run?”
Buckwheat held up a map of the run showing the segments, some with significant
uphill grades. 
Over one thousand runners, divided into
teams of ten, run through the night as part of the 110-mile relay. The relay is
broken into 10 legs varying in distances depending on the grade. Stage one from
Skagway to Dead Horse Gulch is a mere 8.8 miles but most of it is uphill
climbing from sea level to 1,490 feet. Stage Two rises another 1,700 feet in 5.8
miles peaking at the US-Canadian Border. The rest of the run is comparatively
level – well, level by Alaskan standards. The less the incline the longer the
run with the longest stretch the 16 miles from Stage Six to Stage Seven. 
We could feel the excitement build along
Broadway, Skagway’s main street, the closer it got to 6 p.m. The steam engine
moved into position. Runners stretched out. Participants in matching shirts
posed for group pictures. Finally, the first group of runners was in position.
The long toot from the Engine #73 was followed by the bang of the pistol, and
the first group was on their way to Whitehorse. Starts are staggered, with the
slowest teams heading out first, and continue
every half hour until midnight. Runners, with their support follow-vehicles blaring music, follow the route
taken in 1890s when 100,000 prospective gold miners made their
way across the mountains by foot before building rafts to float down the Yukon
River to the Klondike gold fields. Success did not come easily for the miners
nor does it for the runners but the pride in competing is golden. Who won? The
Sunday paper carried the names of the winning teams and their times but we
decided, “They are all winners.”