There were points in the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic where Fairbanks racers Forrest Karr and Steve Taylor wondered if they would be able to go on.

For Karr, it was on the fourth day of the 160-mile bushwhack across the Alaska Range.

"We were hiking on a ridge line between Trident and Hayes glaciers," said Karr, the UAF athletic director. "I just couldn't walk because of my Achilles.

"I took codeine to help with the pain, but that didn't do anything," he said. "I just couldn't keep going."

Karr's Achilles had pooling blood on the back of the tendon. The two hikers decided to cut off a piece of the back of Karr's shoe.

"It really solved the problem," Karr said. "It just took the pressure off that tendon."

For Taylor, the low point of the backcountry race came on the fifth day as they hiked along gravel bars on the West Fork of the Little Delta River.

"My knee and ankle had exploded in pain," Taylor said.

Both were so swollen he could barely walk. He tried soaking his ankle in the ice-cold glacial-fed river, but it didn't help.

After a night's sleep, "it was still pretty painful but not as bad," Taylor said. "That and the fact we were a day closer to the finish was enough to keep me going."

In the end, Karr and Taylor took 7 days, 6 hours and 1 minute to complete the Classic course. That was about four days behind the winning team of Bobby Schnell, Chris Robertson and Andrew Skurka, who finished in a brisk 3 days, 17 hours and 54 minutes. Fourteen of the 26 racers who started the race pulled out.

Karr and Taylor said the Classic, a backcountry race in which competitors carry their gear, find their routes across mountains, swollen rivers and wilderness bushwhacking, was the hardest thing they've ever done.

"Your arms are covered in scratches, your clothes are shredded, you have blisters on your feet, your joints are swollen up and you're asking, 'Can I keep going?' " Karr said.

Taylor agreed: "You can't stop and make camp and snuggle up in a sleeping bag," he said. "Mentally it was very challenging to stay on top of your game the whole time."

The race was a drastic change of pace for both the 33-year-old Karr, and the 32-year-old Taylor, a project coordinator for the borough parks and recreation department.

"It was one week of just focusing on nothing but surviving and moving across the country as efficiently as possible," Karr said.

Challenges included:

• Crossing the waist-deep Delta River in 60 mph winds. Karr was knocked off his feet and ended up swimming and scrambling across the river. Fortunately, he was wearing a flotation device.

• Fording several swollen, glacier-fed rivers such as Jarvis Creek, the Delta River, East Fork of the Delta River and Gillam Creek.

• Hiking over the Granite Mountains. "Probably not the optimal route," is how Taylor put it.

• Hiking across the Hayes, Gillam and Trident glaciers. "Those glaciers are amazing," Karr said.

• Nearly getting run over by a caribou. Karr whistled at the caribou as it ran down the trail toward him, only about 15 feet away.

• Trying to stay awake while packrafting the final 20 miles down the Yanert River after hiking 18-20 hours per day for six days. "You blink once and you're asleep," Taylor said. "I woke up one time and I was beached in the left channel."

• Karr, who suffered a half-dollar-sized blister on one of his heels, couldn't wear shoes for a week after the race. Both racers suffered swollen feet that Taylor called "pretty gross looking."

"You should see my feet," Karr said two days after finishing the race. "You wouldn't believe it."

BREATHTAKING

From the start, Karr and Taylor wondered if they were getting in over their heads.

"Everyone was telling us their packs weighed 19 pounds with everything and ours were 33 pounds," Karr said.

Karr didn't know how he could make his pack any lighter.

"I felt like we needed everything we had," he said.

Karr and Taylor planned to finish the race in six days. They each started with 11 1/2 pounds of food but by Day 5 they were running low.

"When it became apparent on Day 5 that we weren't going to get done in six days we started rationing our food," Karr said.

On their last day, they ate only a "handful of seeds and half a packet of dry, instant oatmeal, he said. Karr, a workout fanatic, lost eight pounds during the race and Taylor lost five.

Despite the physical and mental challenges, both Karr and Taylor may do the race again.

"The route is gorgeous," said Taylor. "You're right up in the mountains the whole time. Sometimes it makes you feel kind of small."

Finishing the Classic provides spectacular memories.

"I love Alaska, but when you go out and do things like this, you love it even more," Karr said. "It's truly breathtaking."

28th annual Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic

1) Bobby Schnell, Chris Robertson and Andrew Skurka -- 3 days, 17 hours, 54 minutes; 2) Roman Dial and Forrest McCarthy, 4 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes; 3) Eben Sargent and Brad Marden, 4 days, 14 hours, 11 minutes; 4) Stephen Taylor, Forrest Karr and Rob Kehrer, 7 days, 5 hours, 42 minutes; 5) John Lapkass, 8 days, 22 hours, 22 minutes. Scratches -- Kyle Amstadter and Jesse Bernwald; Craig Bernard and Jordan Manley; Michael Martin and Michael Penuelas; Donna Kleck; Don Moden and Scott Wilk; Christopher Bernshoof and George Feree; Mark Ross; William and Clay Collins.

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