Temperatures plunge into the negative 40s for the record 121 participants
“Good luck everyone!”
No kidding.
It was minus 9 degrees at 7 a.m. Monday when a race volunteer hollered those words right before the seventh Arrowhead 135 Ultramarathon kicked off at Kerry Park Arena.
The 135-mile, self-supported extreme competition from International Falls to Tower witnessed a record number of participants, a repeat winner and temperatures that plummeted into the negative 40s — on back-to-back nights.
“It turned out to be a great race,” said first-year race director Dave Pramann. “It was classic Arrowhead, International Falls cold.”
It was frigid Arrowhead, International Falls cold.
“That second night is always hard,” said Pramann, who participated last year and finished third. “Those guys that finished deserve it. I couldn’t imagine that.”
Pramann said a couple racers reported negative 41 degree temperatures in some of the low-lying swamps Tuesday night along the Arrowhead Trail. That didn’t include the windchill factor. Monday’s low temperature was negative 18, according to accuweather.com, but it was one of the windiest nights in January.
“Some athletes can do 135 miles during the summer, but there’s no way they could do 70 miles in the winter,” International Falls’ Anton Oveson said about the extreme athletes that participate in this type of race. Oveson, 64, bowed out of the race early on Monday and spent the rest of the time volunteering along the trail and at check points.
Alaska’s Jeff Oatley is one of those athletes, and the 43-year-old won his second straight title on a bike in 15 hours, 50 minutes. He started to pull away from runner-up Jason Buffington with roughly 30 miles to go, according to Pramann. Buffington finished in 16:47.
“Every race I see him at, he impresses me more and more,” Pramann said about Oatley, who won by only 10 seconds last year in 16:17.
Heather Best, 33, finished first among women and eighth overall in 20:14. She shattered the women’s record by roughly 6 1/2 hours.
“Heather Best set a record that I don’t think will be broke for a long time, except by her,” Pramann said. “That time is pretty amazing.”
John Storkamp won the race on foot for the third time in 44:32, and Jeremy Kershaw finished second in 47:23. No skiers finished.
Three locals participated, but only one finished. Oveson (ski) and Mike Lessard (ski) dropped out, while Ken Krueger (bike) finished 29th in 34:50.
“It’s a neat accomplishment. I’d like to do it all three ways,” said Krueger, who’s never failed to finish in the five years he’s biked.
Three participants have finished in all three formats — Matt Maxwell, Tim Row and Kershaw. Krueger trained to ski this year but biked due to the cold weather.
The 121 participants eclipsed last year’s record total of 102. However, only 59 finished this year compared to 61 last year. The rundown — 39 of 59 bikers finished; 20 of 56 runners finished; 0 of 6 skiers finished.
Both Pramann and Oveson, one of the biggest local connections for the race, envision the numbers to stay around 120 participants and for temperatures to continue to average well below zero.
