Wasilla rookie nabs Iron Dog title

GENE JANSEN/Frontiersman

BIG LAKE - Anchorage paving contractor Marc McKenna and a 22-year-old rookie from Wasilla, Nick Olstad, were crowned champions of the 2005 Iron Dog snowmachine race Saturday at the Call of the Wild.

They crossed the finish line just after noon with an elapsed time of 52 hours, 59.4 minutes to become winners of $23,250. Scott Davis of Anchorage and Todd Palin of Wasilla edged third-place finishers Kenny Kleewein of Big Lake and Randy Hunter from Willow by less than a minute to grab the $17,250 second-place money.

After six tries, McKenna finally made it into the winners circle and was mobbed by dozens of supporters at the finish line. But he was no worse for wear. After more than 2,000 miles of full-throttle racing, his machine looked as if it had just come off a Big Lake warm-up lap.

With a partially melted cowling, broken start cable and blown pipe, Olstad's machine did not look quite as good. In fact, it looked as though its last race had just been completed, but he was happy with the result.

"I think we knew we would make it," Olstad said after the race. "I was hurting bad, but Marc told me to keep going."

Many of the Iron Dog racers indicated the race had more snow than they had ever seen, according to race director Stacey Grohol. But they appreciated the extra padding the layers of snow provided, except when the front-runners were expected to cut a path for the rest of the pack.

"In McGrath, everyone was waiting for us to break trail," Olstad said. "We led most of the race. We were breaking trail to Poorman for 35 miles until we pulled over to let someone else do it."

The challenge of navigating through white-out conditions along the West coastline may have been a catastrophe for McKenna, who led the pair most of the race, if not for his rookie partner.

"My GPS [Global Positioning System] wasn't working right," McKenna said. "We had to use Nick's."

Time could have been lost, as the two teammates had to rely on one GPS unit to get them through the low-visibility terrain, but they worked together and held a modest lead out of Nome even after they hit more obstacles.

"We came out of Nome and there were 10-foot drifts," Olstad said.

Olstad, a last-minute replacement for Palmer racer Tyler Aklestad, shows due respect for a sport that has no preference as far as knocking out racers, old or young.

"All those old guys still do it," Olstad said. "That's tough. We made a real good team. I would probably do it again."

By the time the team reached Shell Lake, just west of Mount Susitna, Olstad said he and McKenna felt confident of the win. This year, seven of the starting 20 pairs scratched because of injury or mechanical problems. This is a better ratio than normal, according to Grohol.

Last year, about half of the teams dropped out before the finish. Having fewer scratches is good for the race, she said. This may encourage more entries next year.

"It's good to see younger racers signing up for the race. The quality of the technology of the machines is incredible," she said.