Over the weekend Skagway hosted its annual Buckwheat cross country ski race named for the late, great, Skagway mainstay Carlin “Buckwheat” Donahue. As with most everything in the time of Covid, the event took on a much different shape this year.
Jeff Brady announced the start of the race with a howl, and so began the 35th annual cross country ski race known as the Buckwheat, this year, deemed the Buckwheat Covid Classic.
Every year this race brings together communities from all over the north to celebrate the coming spring, and revel in the last of the long winter’s offerings. This year, with the Canadian border closed and travel mandates firmly in place, the race served as a reminder that Skagway still knows how to throw a party.
A chopper bringing more event goers to the lake (Photo by Henry Leasia)
“I was not trying to win at all,” said Triathlon champion Brooke Jasky-Zuber.
To which runner up Ryan Hickel replied, “Which makes it even better!”
Brooke laughed, “But on the last lap he stopped, he got iced, and he was putting [the bottle] in his backpack at the aid station. I pulled up to the aid station and I was like, “What is Ryan doing putting on a backpack right now?”
“I wanna party at the end and I need my warm clothes,” Ryan replied.
That led Brooke to think, “I’m actually gonna catch up with him.” She did exactly that, and went on to win by three seconds.
Other participants thought they had a shot this year, but far too many underestimated the tenacious Skagway phenom. I caught up with Tom Parker before the race and asked him if he thought he could win.
“Well, it’s not that I plan on it, it’s just an eventuality. Much like the heat death of our universe, it’s just going to happen.” It did not.
Kid’s race start (photo Henry Leasia)
There were multiple races to enter this year, the Triathlon, the Biathlon and the kids races. The premiere race being the Triathlon which started with a foot race at Skagway’s Lower Dewey trailhead, followed by three laps around the lake for a full 10K, plus a new twist this year, the rifle shot.
No actual guns were used; they were paintball guns. How accurate were the paintball guns?
“Terribly inaccurate. Right now looking from here I only see one orange dot on a target, and that was when they were warming up and getting it set up,” said race organizer and long-time Log Cabin Ski Society contributor Corey Thole.
If the shooters missed the target, which, almost every participant did, they had to do a short penalty lap.
The town came out in force, hiking up the icy Lower Dewey trail, or catching a ride on a chopper provided by Temsco Helicopters to family or friendship bubbles of five or less.
Aid station action shot with Jon Hinrichs serving Tang to Michael Yee and his daughter Mina. (Photo by Mike Swasey)
People brought camping chairs, music, party hats, there was even a man-sized banana staffing the aid station at the north end of the lake offering chocolate, Tang or something stronger for the older crowd. There was a burger and hot dog feed, and then, the grand finale, the burning of the giant wooden corona-virus.
Were the organizers worried the fire would melt a hole through the three foot layer of ice on the lake?
“We figure, since this thing is going to be lit up and send all that good energy off, it is pretty large, it might create a big hole in the ice at some point, so there’s a couple fishing rods up here, and it’s going to be warm with the fire, so, Hawaiian shirts and fishing poles. Just in case. Be prepared,” said Corey Thole.
Coronavirus statue in mid-burn (Photo by Henry Leasia)
Roughly two thirds of Skagway residents have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. And though some, like this reporter, missed the revelry downtown after the event, it seems the burning of the giant coronavirus was more than just simply symbolic.
Funds from this year’s Buckwheat Covid Classic will go to help cover medical costs for current Log Cabin Ski Society president Aric “Krusty” Baldwin. The link to the GoFundme campaign is available on the Log Cabin Ski Society Facebook page.
