ITI wrap-up

Beat Jegerlehner and Marco Berni celebrate the finish of their thousand-mile walk to Nome, Alaska. The two completed the journey in 28 days and 4 hours.

First of all, I need to apologize again for the lack of updates on Half Past Done. I have no intention of letting this Web site lapse, but I am currently still the sole operator and when life gets busy, this is one of the first projects I put on the backburner. With the end of the Alaska adventure and spring racing season approaching, I intend to get back to regular posting about ultrarunning, bikepacking races, and other summer expeditions.

In the interim, the Iditarod Trail Invitational has ended with all 48 starters reaching McGrath, and three cyclists and five runners continuing on and reaching Nome. Both distances effectively had a hundred-percent finisher rate for those who decided to continue beyond McGrath, which is astonishing. Beat Jegerlehner joined forces with Italian Marco Berni, and the two often traveled together for nearly 600 miles. They finished in Nome after 28 days and 4 hours of hard effort, soft trails, rain, wind, extreme cold, and breathtaking vistas.

We will post more about Beat’s adventures in the Interior and western Alaska coast, along with insights on what gear worked and what didn’t, in a future article. For now, I just want to publicly extend my congratulations to him, Marco, and everyone else who completed the journey to McGrath. Few can fully understand the challenges and also the rewards of a harrowing walk across the frozen wilderness, but I can appreciate the scope of this accomplishment. Both Beat and Marco are well, and enjoying eating and sleeping to their hearts’ content.

Tim Hewitt also completed his self-supported journey, successfully leveraging his dwindling supplies and unparalleled resolve to win the foot race to Nome in 24 days and 20 hours. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to catch up with Tim on some of his experiences soon. Here are the final results of the 2013 Iditarod Trail Invitational 1,000-mile race to Nome:

Bob Ostrom (M, Alaska): 20 days 16 hours on bike
Ausilia Vistarini (F, Italy): 22 days 7 hours on bike
Sebastiano Favaro (M, Italy): 22 days 7 hours on bike
Tim Hewitt (M, Pennsylvania): 24 days 20 hours 31 minutes on foot
Marco Berni (M, Italy): 28 days 4 hours on foot
Beat Jegerlehner (M, California): 28 days 4 hours on foot
Shawn McTaggart (F, Alaska): 30 days 18 hours 10 minutes on foot
Klaus Schweinberger (M, Alaska): 31 days 12 hours 5 minutes on foot (Note: This is an unofficial finish in the Iditarod Trail Invitational as it exceeds the 31-day cut-off.)

Official results for the 350-mile race are posted at this link.