Juneau teams ready for 20th Klondike Relay

SKAGWAY - For two decades, the Klondike "Trail of '98" International Road Relay has drawn participants that run the gamut from those wanting to break records, to reach personal goals or just to run under the endless midnight sky of the Yukon.

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This year's 20th anniversary race, which starts tonight in Skagway and ends on Saturday in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, will feature a lot of familiar teams treading the 10-stage, 110-mile course up Klondike Highway 2 and the Alaska Highway.

Juneau's Lady Gu Divas - who want to break the women's masters course record they set last year - are back, as well as Juneau's Smokin' Ole Geezers, the defending men's masters champions who feature the only three runners to have competed in every relay.

But for one new addition to this year's field, completing the relay will be the culmination of a far greater challenge.

Juneau's Team Survivor Perseverance, a women's team, includes cancer survivors and their supporters - many of whom are first-time relay runners. Their participation is the result of a year of work by Juneau's Nicki Germain, a cancer survivor who will be running Leg 1 out of Skagway.

"Each of us will be running in honor or support of someone who has been lost to cancer, who is fighting cancer or who has beaten cancer," she said.

Team Survivor is a national organization dedicated to promoting fitness for women affected by cancer. Germain said she heard about the Team Survivor Northwest chapter while undergoing cancer treatment at the University of Washington.

"Once I got back to Juneau and finished my treatment I thought, 'You know, (the Klondike Road Relay) is the perfect thing to get Team Survivor involved in,'" she said.

She was too late to get a team together for last year's relay, and eventually decided to start a new chapter in Juneau rather than work through the Northwest group. The local Team Survivor started in January, and offers a weekly walking and fitness group for cancer survivors.

Sara Peacock of Juneau, running for Team Survivor Perseverance in support of the survivors, will be participating in her first relay and will run Leg 3.

"It's going to be more difficult than probably anything I've done, but I feel this is such an opportunity to test myself," she said.

Peacock said she is proud to be on the team.

"To just, in a small way, be a part of that as an advocate ... is a real privilege," she said.

In addition to Germain, Peacock and five other Juneau residents, the team will include one woman from Ontario, one from Watson Lake and one from Palmer. Germain said she had hoped to have a team comprised entirely of cancer survivors, but this year wasn't able to put one together.

In the future, Germain said she wants to see she said she would like to secure financial support to pay the travel costs of cancer survivors from outside Alaska who want to participate in the relay.

"There was some skepticism over whether I could make this happen," she said. "I guess I'm beaming at this point. ... We've got a full team, and everyone is healthy and happy and excited."

Elsewhere in this year's Klondike field, the Lady Gu Divas of Juneau want to top the 14 hour, 26 minute, 29 second time they posted in last year's relay - a record for the women's masters division. Team captain Dawn Walsh said they will face a tough challenge from Fairbanks' Les Femmes de Tundra, who previously held the record.

The Open Mixed category looks to be very competitive this year, with Juneau teams Darwin's Tribe and Vestigial Appendages returning after placing first and third, respectively, in that division last year. John Bursell of Darwin's Tribe said the team remained largely intact this year.

The Vestigial Appendages have seen some changes as a few "appendages" broke off to form a new team - the Severed Appendage Revenge - that features two Juneau runners and a variety of other runners, including current and former Southeast residents.

And, returning for their 20th straight relay, Juneau's Glenn Frick, Al Graves and Jerry Buckley will head up the Smokin' Ole Geezers team, which has dominated the Masters division for years.

"I thought it maybe would last a couple of years," after competing the first year, Frick said. "But it keeps going and going. It's progressed every year. ... I'd like to do 20 more."

Andrew Krueger can be reached at akrueger@juneauempire.com.