Peter Basinger of Anchorage has collected a fourth Iditarod Trail Invitational victory. The 29-year-old pulled into McGrath at 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, a little more than four hours slower than his record-breaking 2007 finish but still 33 minutes ahead of reigning champion Jeff Oatley.
It's the 10th year Basinger has embarked on the 350-mile adventure, which takes racers from Anchorage to McGrath across the Alaska Range following sections of the historic Iditarod trail.
"It was a pretty average year. Some sections are really slow, some sections are really fast. It's been really warm and there is some open water, but nothing (we encountered) was that big of a deal," Basinger said.
Basinger estimates he spent nearly 50 miles, maybe less, pushing his bike over sections of trail too soft to pedal.
Mettle, muscle and endurance aside, it may be a self-admitted mistake by the defending champ that helped Basinger charge into McGrath for the win.
"I accidentally slept too much at one point," Oatley, 40, said Thursday morning from the checkpoint in McGrath.
Halfway between Finger Lake and Puntilla Lake, Oatley was tired and having all kinds of problems and decided it was time to rest. He took advantage of a local couple's offer to welcome racers any time of day or night and knocked off for a planned two-hour nap. After getting up on time and making an effort to reach for his socks and get moving, he dozed off again, waking up after another two hours.
"I wish I wouldn't have done that but it wasn't the end of the world. Sleep helps a lot," Oatley said. "The whole race is an unforeseen problem. That's the essence of the race itself. It's just how you deal with those things."
And, like always, the race did have its problem points this year.
A steep slope with wet, icy overflow dubbed "the glacier" is an annual challenge. This year, Oatley was able to walk up about halfway, but had to claw and drag his bike around a rock edge to get through.
They're obstacles Iditarod sled dog mushers will also face in a few short days. Sections of the trail have no snow while others are pretty bumpy, and in the Dalzell Gorge several ice bridges seem to barely be hanging on. But "any musher than has done this trail over the last couple of years isn't going to be surprised by anything," Basinger said.
They are tired and a little bit sore, but after stealing into McGrath in the middle of the night the race veterans said they're feeling as good as you can on the back end of a competition like this.
The warm greeting at the finish helps.
"Peter and Tracy Schneiderheinze are awesome," Oatley said. "They sit you in a chair and start putting food and drinks in front of you. You've been eating so much trail food, which is not the healthiest or that appealing. So just to have a hot plate in front of you and be able to sit and enjoy it is great."
The meal? Lasagna, salad and bread, topped off with a cup of hot chocolate, followed by a late-night post-race chat with Basinger about this year's course and Oatley's push to close in on Basinger's lead.
"It was pretty phenomenal," Oatley said.
Contact Jill Burke at jill(at)alaskadispatch.com.