It's all uphill from here.
With just one race remaining in the seven-day, eight-stage Sadler's Alaska Challenge, competition ends today with what promises to be the sternest test yet for a record field of handcycle and wheelchair racers.
Racers will tap whatever energy they have left for the 30-mile Hatcher Pass road race, the third mountain pass they've taken on since racing began Monday in Seward.
Their tour of Alaska is likely to end on an excruciating note -- today's race begins in Sutton and goes about 14 miles on hilly terrain before turning onto Fishhook Road and beginning an epic climb.
In the final 16 miles, they'll gain more than 3,000 feet in elevation as they push themselves to the Independence Mine parking lot at the top of the 3,500-foot pass. The race ends there, the first mountain-top finish in race's 25-year history.
Spectators who want to see the finish should be at the parking lot by 8 a.m., race officials said, even though a finisher isn't expected for an hour or two after that.
"We don't want traffic to impact the race," co-race director Heather Plucinski said.
After climbing Thompson Pass on Friday, competitors raced 54 miles from Wrangell-St. Elias National Park headquarters to Lake Louise on Saturday.
They got a much-welcomed break from the rain that's followed them since Monday -- "Everybody is smiling today because it's sunny," Plucinski said -- but that was the only break some of them got.
Norbert Mosandl of Germany was taken to the clinic in Glennallen after crashing on the Glenn Highway not far from the turnoff to Lake Louise. He needed some stitches and suffered some bumps, bruises and road rash, but he didn't break any bones, said race official Beth Edmands.
Edmands said the accident happened at a section of road that has been chip-sealed. Between Mosandl's speed and the change in surface from regular pavement to chip seal, the handcyclist took a bad spill.
Chicago racer James Lilly, meanwhile, scratched for the second day in a row, mostly because of cumulative fatigue from the long week, Edmands said.
"This is the most rainy race we've ever had, and it really, really takes a toll," she said.
It's especially difficult for those in wheelchairs like Lilly -- one of just three racers out of 36 who are in chairs, not handcycles. Cranking a handcycle is faster, more efficient and most would say easier than pushing a wheelchair.
"For one thing," Edmands said, "they don't have gears. It's a lot harder."
By the time racers reach Independence Mine today, they'll have raced 223 miles, traveled past five glaciers and gone over three mountain passes during a journey that's taken them to Seward, Hope, Girdwood, Cordova, Valdez, Lake Louise and Hatcher Pass.
And if they were lucky, they even saw a little bit of Alaska -- although until Saturday, mostly all they saw was rain.
"They're all happy," Plucinski said after the first race held under blue skies all week. "This is why you come to Alaska. Until today they haven't seen any views except raindrops coming off their helmets and a wet road ahead of them."
Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4309.
Sadler's Alaska Challenge
(Saturday's results were not available from race officials)
Friday's results
26.2-mile Thompson Pass road race
Men's wheelchair -- 1. Saul Mendoza 2:39:49.0; 2. Paul Nunnari 2:40:44.9; 3. James Lilly did not finish.
Women's handcycle -- 1. Monique Van der Vorst 1:43:01.8; 2. Andrea Eskau 2:08:52.9; 3. Susan Katz 2:29:39.6; 4. Melissa Stockwell 2:44:05.5; 5. Sherry Schulz 2:52:59.6.
Men's handcycle (longseat) -- 1. Elmar Sternath 1:50:05.1; 2. Manfred Putz 1:50:51.8; 3. Heinz Frei, 1:55:24.9; 4. Stefan Baumann 1:57:07.2; 5. Matt Updike 1:57:10.3; 6. Klaus Dolleschal 2:01:37.2; 7. Drew Wills 2:01:37.2; 8. Seth Arseneau 2:05:54.6; 9. Josh Sharpe 2:07:11.6; 10. Rafael Ibarra 2:10:24.0; 11. Bill Schwarz 2:13:32.5; 12. Christian Peter 2:19:14.9; 13). Brant Schalk 2:19:45; 14. Scott Davidson 2:24:47.7; 15. Bill Lasher 2:32:03.6; 16. Harold Warner 2:45:11.2; 17. Joe Dowling 2:55:52.6; 18. Kevin Jackson 2:56:59.7; 19. Michael O'Neill 3:07:02.5; 20. Larry Coutermarsh 3:20:24.4; 21. Leon Bostick 3:47:58.3; 22. Rick Gilliland; 23. Ed Jones did not finish.
Men's handcycle (kneeseat) -- 1. Ernst Van Dyk 1:35:00.7; 2. Chris Peterson 1:40:46.4; 3. Krige Schabort 1:35:07.7;4. Scott McNeice 1:42:08.7; 5. Norbert Mosandl 1:38:38.8.
Saturday's results
54-mile Lake Louise road race
Finish times not available
Men's wheelchair -- 1) Mendoza; 2) Nunnari. Did not finish -- James Lilly.
Women's handcycle -- 1) Van der Vorst; 2) Eskau; 3) Katz; 4) Stockwell; 5) Schulz.
Men's handcycle (longseat) -- 1) Sternath; 2) Frei; 3) Putz; 4) Updike; 5) Dolleschal; 6) Wills; 7) Sharpe; 8) Baumann; 9) Schalk; 10) Ibarra; 11) Peter; 12) Davidson; 13) Arseneau; 14) Schwarz; 15) Lasher; 16) Warner; 17) Jackson; 18) O'Neill; 19) Dowling; 20) Gilliland; 21) Coutermarsh; 22) Bostick. Did not start -- Jones.
Men's handcycle (kneeseat) -- 1) Van Dyk; 2) Peterson; 3) Schabort; 4) McNeice. Did not finish -- Mosandl.
Overall standings
Through 7 of 8 stages
Men's wheelchair -- 1. Mendoza 15:10:21.7; 2. Nunnari 16:37:09.5
Women's handcycle -- 1. Van der Vorst 11:24:25.3; 2. Eskau 12:49:20.8; 3. Katz 14:55:06.6; 4. Stockwell 15:15:26.7; 5. Schulz 17:08:53.1.
Men's handcycle (longseat) -- 1. Sternath 10:13:02.6; 2. Putz 10:28:24.1; 3. Frei 10:39:03.2; 4. Updike 11:04:19.5; 5. Dolleschal 11:26:26.9; 6. Baumann 11:27:45.2; 7. Wills 12:01:37.8; 8. Sharpe 12:33:59.7; 9. Arseneau 12:34:13.2; 10. Ibarra 12:53:35; 11. Schalk 13:09:41.7; 12. Peter 13:21:51.6; 13. Davidson Scott 13:31:24.5; 14. Schwarz 14:29:02.0;15. Lasher 14:31:50; 16. Warner 14:57:08.1; 17. Jackson 15:41:44.9; 18. Dowling 15:45:03.3; 19. O'Neill 16:33:03.1; 20. Coutermarsh 17:46:58.4; 21. Bostick 18:20:53.6.
Men's handcycle (kneeseat) -- 1. Van Dyk 10:08:48.2; 2. Peterson 10:15:50.3; 3. Schabort 10:25:16.9; 4. McNeice 11:06:08.1.
By BETH BRAGG
bbragg@adn.com