Kluane relay recharged after 3-year hiatus
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TweetAn expected 1,225 bicycle riders will pour down from Canada into Haines Saturday during only the second Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay in five years.
“Covid changed things,” race coordinator Mia Lee of Whitehorse said this week. Yukon’s capital city is growing, including with cyclists who weren’t around in 2019, the last time the 149-mile relay was run.
That explains the 91 eight-member squads registered. “Some riders are just checking it out for the first time, figuring out what it’s all about with a group of friends,” Lee said.
Seventy-three solo riders are attempting to pedal the full distance from Haines Junction’s Wildlife Muffin statue to the shuttered barracks of Fort Seward. Other riders will compete on squads of two riders (44) and four riders (85).
This year’s relay is testing the allowance of e-bikes, cycles powered by a battery-assist. That option is offered to noncompetitive teams of eight.
“The idea was to provide inclusiveness,” Lee said. “A grandmother, her son and daughter and grandchildren could all be on the same team this year. This gives everyone an opportunity to ride.”
This year’s registration was one of the fastest in the event’s history, relay vice-president Richard Clement of Haines told the CVN. In just five days, more than 1,000 signed up.
“We actually were concerned that we wouldn’t have full participation because COVID and people getting out of the habit of riding bikes,” relay board member Chip Lende said. “We were pleasantly surprised when we filled up to 1200 riders.”
Of the event’s six board members, Lende will be one of five who will be pedaling, seeking to go the distance solo for the first time. “I’m at that age where it’s gonna be harder to do it solo in future years, Lende said. Every year is gonna be harder so I said I better do it now.”
Lende has been racing the KCIBR almost every year since its 1993 inception.
“Those of us that have ridden it remember the good weather and the bad weather,” he said. “The years it was north wind and sunny and everything was perfect, and we remember the years when it was howling wind and raining and stuff like that. Those extremes in weather, whether good or bad, is what sticks in your mind.”
In previous years, participants had to bike through construction zones.
“This is the first race with no construction,” Lende said. “It’s a beautiful highway, that’s
what many of us are looking forward to. For many years we’ve had construction to go through
and that’s been difficult.”
Over 200 volunteers will be stationed at checkpoints throughout the race this year, including five new groups including the Japanese Association of the Yukon and the territory’s Filipino Association (checkpoints 2-4) and the Haines Hot Shots youth shooting group (checkpoint 7).
“We’re excited to have the new groups and to give them the opportunity to raise some money for their efforts,” said relay coordinator Lee.
She urges all riders and particularly newcomers to be aware of safety hazards, and to follow protocols regarding cars and riders. Instead of an in-person safety presentations, race staff are urging all riders to watch a 6-minute safety video that can be seen at the event’s website, http://www.kcibr.com.
All relay participants get a meal ticket to the annual Haines Fishermen’s Barbecue, 4-9 p.m. Saturday at the Southeast Alaska State Fairgrounds. Friends of relay riders can get a meal with a suggested donation of $5.
Lende invited anyone to come to the parade grounds to watch the bicyclists cross the finish line. A small awards ceremony will be held at the parade grounds at the end of the race.
The relay starts 8:20 a.m. Yukon time for solo riders and pairs at the intersection of the Haines and Alaska highways in Haines Junction.s Four-person teams leave at 8:45 a.m. and eight-person teams at 9 a.m.
Motorists heading north this weekend are advised to watch for riders and expect brief delays at the relay start.
