Jay Cable of Fairbanks has won the 1,000 mile Iditarod Trail Invitational human-powered race.
Cable pedaled his fat bike under the burled arch in Nome Wednesday to claim the top spot, after 17 days, three hours on the trail. Vancouver BC based cyclist RJ Sauer followed 17 hours later to take second place, and Pennsylvania’s Tim Hewitt was third, another seven hours back. Hewitt becomes the only ITI racer to have completed the 1,000-mile event on foot and by bike. Race director Katy Merchant said competitors struggled with soft trail and windy, cold conditions in the Alaska Range after the February 26th start, but travel conditions improved.
”They were making pretty good time on the Yukon River and then the Kaltag-Portage… Kaltag-Unalakleet, I think was pretty good,” Merchant said. “I think there was some walking and pushing there. But the coast has been really good. They’ve been making really good time on the Bering Sea coast from Unalakleet to Nome. There’s a little bit of wind but nothing like it could be.”
Three ITI riders are still on the trail to Nome.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
