A strong tailwind resulted in speedy times Saturday at the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay.
The eight-leg race began from Haines Junction and finished in Haines, Alaska, involving 321 teams, including solo riders. More than 1,200 riders took part.
The day started cold and rainy in the Junction and ended sunny and 25º C in Haines.
Tyson Flaharty, aka Still Fuzzy, from Fairbanks, Alaska, finished first overall in extremely speedy fashion in six hours, 17 minutes and 11 seconds.
Flaharty also won last year’s race in a time of 6:59:32.
He was just four seconds ahead of Whitehorse’s Willie Bell (aka Western Wille), who came in second in 6:17:15.
The race record of 5:55:55 was set in 2002 by a team, Bleeding Seabird Flavour. The record-setting team included Mike McCann, Hank Irving, Dan Harrington and Paul Christiansen.
Team 169, Femme Fatale (Heather), Heather Clarke, of Whitehorse, was the first solo woman to cross the finish line in 7:00:59.
Juneau’s J & B finished first in the 2 Person Team Men’s category in an impressive 6:31:55.
AoK and Not Tadej Pogacar, two teams from Whitehorse, tied for first in the 2 Person Team Mixed in a time of 6:40:46.
In the 2 Person Team Women’s category, the Valkyries from Whitehorse took top spot in 8:00:04.
The team of 2 Legs To Many from Whitehorse had enough legs to finish first in the three or four person category in 6:53:00.
In the 3 or 4 Person Mixed, Sweaty Yetis of Whitehorse finished first in 7:02:29.
The Fearsome Foursome of Whitehorse were fearsome indeed, finishing first in the 3 or 4 Person Women’s in 7:09:27.
In the Men’s 5-8 Person category, Whitehorse’s Rolling Blackout Pt 2 came in first in 7:52:54.
In the 5-8 Mixed, Whitehorse’s Bike Patrol finished first in 7:37:23.
Finally, Sisters With Blisters, also of Whitehorse, probably racked up a few blisters en route to a first-place finish in the 5-8 Person Women’s category in 8:53:56.
Check out this Friday’s print edition of The Yukon Star for many more details and photos on the 2024 KCIBR.
