By Hal Shepherd
Homer Independent Press
A total of 15 inches of snow graced the Homer area as of early March. Then, on the day before the 12th annual Homer Epic, an ultra-race in the hills east of Homer, a winter storm warning called for 8 inches of blowing snow. Organizers groomed like mad to pack down the soft snow and considered scaling back the course.
The Homer Epic, a fundraiser sponsored by the Homer Cycling Club, takes place every March and includes bicycling, skiing or running. It is described as “a 50 km or 100 km human-powered winter race in the Caribou Hills on some of the most scenic, marked winter trails you will find. Ski, bike, or run…”
In 2023 and 2024, when I first participated in the Epic, the conditions were prime – cold, calm and no fresh snow. The Homer Cycling Club, with the help of Snomads — a group that maintains a vast network of trials in the area mostly for snowmachine use — packed down the trail to about the consistency of concrete. This year, on a chilly, breezy race day, 98 athletes started, and things only deteriorated from there, to near-blizzard conditions.
The event starts and ends at McNeil Canyon Elementary School, about 1,300 feet above sea level. From there, the route parallels a portion of the McNeil Ski Trails, then turns onto the power-line easement before veering off through the forests and open meadows of the Caribou Hills.
I quickly discovered that, unlike the past two years, the 4 inches of new snow from the day before was soft and difficult to maneuver. It would bog you down when attempting the steep up hills. In some of the locations where it was deeper, it had a nasty habit of suddenly grabbing your front wheel and either diverting you helplessly off track to bog down there or throwing you to the ground, which was particularly disconcerting going down steep hills. I must have crashed at least six times before reaching the first checkpoint.
After rolling into the checkpoint a little flustered and cold, I talked to Parker Sorenson, who, with two other volunteers, was greeting contestants, providing refreshments, and continually stacking wood onto a large bonfire that was a Godsend against the wind chill. Parker, who was checking in participants as they arrived, has been a volunteer for the Epic for the past six years and said he started working at the checkpoint just this year.
“I do it every year. It’s a riot,” he said. When I suggested to Parker that it seemed a little soft this year, he said, “We were really worried two days ago. It had been rock-hard. We could barely get the trail markers into the ice in the swamps. But then the forecast came out, calling for 6-8 inches. It was a really weird thing because all winter there had been no snow, and two days out we were going ‘Please don’t snow!'”
After the Caribou Lake stop, the route circles back, crossing another meadow before jumping back onto the power-line easement, which makes a straight line back through the trees and open meadows, including terrific views of the Kenai Mountain Range to the South. It’s also after this turn that the work really begins.
Immediately after starting on the return route, in addition to the continued soft snow, I realized there had been a tailwind coming out, and now there was a headwind blowing pretty stiffly, making for a cold wind chill factor. Adding to this, the return route gains most of the 2,541 feet, including the infamous Mathews Hill, which goes straight up for about 800 feet, requiring a humiliating dismount to push up the bike for about half of it.
The last two years were a cake walk compared to this. Six hours and several more crashes later, I rolled into the finish line to hot chocolate and cookies.
According to an email from Chuck Lindsay with the Homer Cycling Club, “98 participants started the race at McNeil Canyon Elementary School in adverse conditions. 66 of them were attempting to bike, ski, or run 50 km (31 miles) on snow. 32 of them were attempting to bike, ski, or run 100 km (62 miles).” The last 50K racer finished just after 8 p.m., and the last 100K participant finished around 3 a.m. the next day.
The top three male finishers for the 100 km bike race were: David Kingston, 8:36:15; Mike Monterusso, 8:50:40; David Canales, 9:39:20.
The top three female finishers for the 100 km bike race were: Rose Garner, 19:41:35; Kimberly Riggs, 20:5:15; Jennifer Bando 22:20:20.
Andrew Vigorito was the sole participant in the 100K run with a time of 17:46:5.
The top three finishers for the 50K bike were: Bryan Hudson, 3:22:12; Nicholas Straka, 3:22:25; Ryan Kofoid, 3:37:50.
Top three female finishers for the 50K bike were: B. Sullivan, 4:7:20; Keesha Matz, 5:16:20; Gila Deganga, 5:29:45.
Top three male finishers for the 50K ski were: Teigan Copp, 5:9:35; Frank Witmer, 5:26:6; Konrad Schaad, 5:53:42.
Top three female finishers for the 50K ski were: Gilia Degange, 5:29:45; Heidi Zimmer, 6:26:52; Rachel Fadeley, 8:43:23.
Top three male finishers for the 50K run were: Tanner Condit, 6:0:7; Kevin Crane, 6:44:32; Kaleb Harvey, 6:53:56.
The top three female runners for the 50K run were: Emily Lamb, 7:26:37; Britni Siekaniec, 7:41:45; Katy Rice, 7:43:35.
More results and information are at Homer Cycling Club web site.
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