We Have a Winner

March 26, 2009 09:18

We Have A Winner

Tim Hewitt arrived in Nome on 3-25 at 23:29. (corrected for daylight savings time)

With his unprecedented 4th finsh to Nome Tim established a Southern Route foot record of 25 days 9 hours and 29 minutes.

Tim left White Mountain around 20:00 on the 25th. He said, "At the summit of the second hill on Topkok it really started blowing and from there to Safety my sled was constantly flipping over in the wind, turning me around like a weather vane and at times I couldn't take another step into it." He finally held his harness in his down wind hand for a while and let the sled float along beside him. When he arrived at the Nome Kennel Club shelter cabin at 05:00 he said it was shaking and rattling. Knowing he faced several miles of the Salomon Blowhole Tim rested,ate, made water and drank because he knew it would be the last time until he broke out of the blowhole near Safety if the wind kept blowing. The mental fortitude and strength it takes to force yourself out of the shelter cabin and into a bitterly cold North wind, wind chill of the charts, at the end of an 1100 mile race is beyond anyone's comprehension that hasn't been in his shoes.

Phil Hofstetter (One of our race veterans who lives in Nome) rode out on his snow machine 16 miles to greet Tim and cheer him on. He went back to town and sat and flashed his car lights like a beacon to welcome him in. Such a welcome is priceless and Tim said Phil was a Trail Angel to a tired, trail weary racer.

In 2008 Tim had high winds for 6 days on the coast. This year the winds were even worse and began as soon as he hit the Yukon hardly letting up all the way to Nome. CONGRATULATIONS Tim for a great finish in a tough year!!!!!!!!!

"Oh, by the way Tim, You won a free entry for next year!!!!!!"