Anchorage Daily News

Skier Chet Fehrmann crossed the finish line at 5 a.m. Sunday to win the Susitna 100, a wilderness race plagued by a ground blizzard amid subzero wind chills that left bikers pushing, skiers slipping and everyone searching for the trail much of the way.

By late Sunday afternoon, less than a dozen racers had completed the 100-mile slog that began 9 a.m. Saturday. Dozens more continued their exhausting push towards the finish line at the Point Mackenzie General Store. Thirty-one of the 80 racers had scratched.

Always-tough biker Peter Basinger was second, finishing at 10:30 a.m. to complete his 25-hour, 30-minute ordeal.

Ordeals are nothing new to Basinger. He holds the course record for the frozen, 350-mile Iditarod Trail Invitational up and over the Alaska Range, and in September finished second in the single-speed bicycle competition at the broiling 24 Hours of Adrenaline World Solo Championship in Monterey, Calif.

Skier Christopher Wrobel was third in 28 hours, 14 minutes.

Racers in the shorter Little Su 50-K finished up Saturday night, and the trying conditions proved to be an equalizer.

On a packed trail, bikers tend to dominate this race of roughly 31 miles. But this year, the first six finishers included the winner on skis, a biker, a runner and the first woman finisher.

"I don't think I passed a single person riding their bike," Brion Bearle said at the finish line Saturday. "They were using it as a luggage rack."

No doubt this year's post-race pizza party for Susitna 100 finishers will be particularly welcome. It starts at 5:30 p.m. today at the Alaska Wild Berry Theater on Juneau Street.

Little Su 50K

Overall results

1) Brion Beerle, ski, 4:59:12; 2) Todd Kasteler, ski, 5:12:17; 3) Ben Ball, bike, 5:38:57 (first biker); 4) David Johnston, foot, 5:50:42 (first runner); 5) Brij Potnis, bike, 5:58:25; 6) Jennifer Campbell, ski, 6:04:30 (first woman skier); 7) Jon Douglas, bike, 6:13:34; 8) David Hart, bike, 6:19:49; 9) Ann Farris, ski, 6:22:55; 10) Daniel Salvador, foot, 6:25:33; 11) Aaron Ramirez, ski, 6:29:31; 12) Brian Uher-Koch, foot, 6:55:36; 13) Gail Taylor, foot, 7:06:41 (first woman runner); 14) Aurora Agee, ski, 7:12:47; 15) Dwight Iverson, ski, 7:52:35; 16) Karen Williams, foot, 7:59:32; 17) Kimberly Riggs, bike, 8:02:00 (first woman biker); 18) Tony Allen, bike, 8:14:41; 19) Jake Torrey, foot, 8:36:41; 20) Jordan Jenckes, foot, 8:37:37;

21) Karen Hurd, ski, 8:39:05; 22) James Hurd, ski, 8:39:05; 23) Mary Janis, ski, 8:59:34; 24) Jennifer Kluever, ski, 8:59:49; 25) Scott Kluever, ski, 8:59:50; 26) Danisa Rudolph, bike, 9:01:17; 27) Jeff Kellard, 9:01:17; 28) Eric Meier, foot, 9:15:48; 29) Beryl Anderson, foot, 9:21:50; 30) Shannon Rochelle, foot, 9:23:53; 31) Thomas Brown, foot, 9:23:57; 32) Clint Baker, foot, 9:24:37; 33) Jim Hadlock, foot, 9:26:51; 34) Tyler Maxwell, foot, 9:44; 35) David Elliott, foot, 9:47; 35) Michael Valiquette, 9:47; 37) Jeannette Lee, bike, 10:09:45; 38) Carole Holley, bike, 10:09:47; 39) Michel Villon, bike, 10:19; 40) Rob Hatfield, bike, 10:47; 41) Bjarne Holm, bike, 10:56.

Susitna 100

Overall Results

1) Chet Fehrmann, ski, 20:00; 2) Pete Basinger, bike, 1 day, 1 hour, 30 minutes; 3) Christopher Wrobel, ski, 1:04:14; 4) Greg Matyas, bike, 1:04:56; 5) Tom Peichel, bike, 1:04:56; 6) Jim Jager, ski, 1:05:22; 7) Frank Cahill, bike, 1:05:36; 8) Kevin Dobelbower, ski, 1:06:14; 9) Jim Lokken, ski, 1:06:51.

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