Alaska State Troopers responded to multiple injuries at the Arctic Man on Friday, flying one man to Fairbanks with serious injuries.
Ira Edwards, a sit-skier from Anchorage, was participating in an early afternoon race when he was injured about 200 yards from the starting line, according to Megan Peters, troopers spokeswoman.
Peters did not know how the injury occurred. She said it was considered serious enough that Edwards was flown to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital in a trooper's helicopter around 1:15 p.m. A spokesperson at the hospital said Edwards was in the emergency room around 7:10 p.m., but his condition was not listed.
In 2010, Edwards was paralyzed when a tree fell on him while he was clearing a ski trail.
By Friday evening, troopers were responding to two other incidents, both snowmachine wrecks, at Arctic Man.
Peters did not immediately have specifics on the injuries. She said she did not think the snowmachiners were participants in the race.
"It's not uncommon for us to have these types of incidents at Arctic Man," she said.
Arctic Man is an annual ski-and-snowmachine downhill competition in the Hoodoo Mountains about 180 miles southeast of Fairbanks off of the Richardson Highway. The skier or snowboarder starts atop a 5,800-foot peak and drops 1,700 feet to the bottom of a canyon, where the athlete meets up with a snowmachiner. The snowmachine then pulls the skier on a rope before the skier propels over the side of a second mountain and drops 1,200 feet to the finish line.
Reach Tegan Hanlon at thanlon@adn.com or 257-4589.
By TEGAN HANLON