BLM mulls 100-mile race in Fairbanks

FAIRBANKS - The organizer of a proposed 100-mile combined ski, bicycle and foot race in the White Mountains National Recreation Area has already gotten more than 50 people to sign up.

But organizer Ed Plumb will have to wait until the U.S. Bureau of Land Management decides whether to grant a permit for the event planned for the two million-acre area about 50 miles north of Fairbanks.

The BLM has completed an environmental assessment for the event with three alternatives - including rejecting the proposal.

Under the other two options, race organizers could use three public-use cabins as checkpoints or the BLM could require them to use Arctic Oven or wall tents as checkpoints instead of the cabins.

The BLM will take comment on the race through Jan. 7 with a decision expected to follow a week or two later.

The race would take place March 20-22 with a maximum of 50 entrants in three divisions skiing, cycling and running. The proposed route is a 100-mile loop beginning and ending at the Wickersham Dome Trailhead at Mile 28 of the Elliott Highway.

A key concern for the BLM is reserving public-use cabins for the weekend of the race, which is scheduled during one of the busiest of the year for cabin rentals, according to Collin Cogley, an outdoor recreation planner with BLM in Fairbanks.

The 11 public-use cabins built along the trail system typically have an occupancy rate of about 80 percent, he said.

"We don't want to set a precedent for people getting special rights and uses to cabins," Cogley said.

Plumb said he understands the concerns about the impact.

"I'm a regular user out there and totally respect that," he said.

Plumb said potential entrants were eager to sign up. It took only three weeks to hit the cap of 50 racers after he announced it through an e-mail and Web site last month, with nine people on a waiting list as of Tuesday, he said.

He said the site in the White Mountains is ideal because there's an established trail system, it's close to Fairbanks, the race course is a 100-mile loop instead of an out-and-back format, and the public-use cabins make for perfectly situated checkpoints.