The 2022 Alaska Relay, a 200-mile relay race run from the Eagle River start to the finish in downtown Seward, was contested Friday and Saturday, June 24-25, with runners, in teams of 12, completing 36 race legs of differing distances.
Navigationally Challenged, a team of local runners from the Kenai Peninsula, won their third-straight division championship topping the field in the Mixed Open. Division. The team posted a combined time of 23 hours 26 minute (unofficial) with individual runners completing three legs ranging from 2.5 -8.5 miles.
The Navigationally Challenged team consisted of: Jacob Hill, Lindsey Hill, Anna Metzger, Ithaca Bergholtz, Alex Serventi, Dan Serventi, Patrick Metzger, Lee Frey, Katie Metzger, Peter Hulseman, Becca Hitchcock, Rustin Hitchcock.
The race began in the Chugiak Hills, through Eagle River and down the Glen Highway, through Anchorage, along the Coastal Trail, through the Hillside and onto Turnagain Arm, along the Seward Highway, all the way to downtown Seward.
From the Alaska Relay….
Alaska Relay is split into 36 legs and is most commonly completed by a team of 12. This allows each runner to run 3 times. Distances can vary from under 3 miles to as much as 9 miles, but most runners will do 15-18 miles total over their three legs. The TRADITIONAL (but by no means mandatory) method is for the team to run in a sequential rotation, where runner 1 does legs 1, 13, and 25, runner 2 does 2, 14, and 26, and so on. Teams split into two vans of 6 runners each. The first van starts the race sending out runner 1, cheers them on along the leg, and meets them at Exchange 1 to send out runner 2. This repeats through runner 6, who hands off to the runner 7 in the other van. While van 2 takes over the active legs, van 1 heads off to eat, rest, maybe goof of a little. Runners have 7-10 hours rest between legs and 3-5 hours of van downtime between sets (dependent on the team’s overall speed).
Team Divisions
For each team type, there are 3 divisions with 3 gender splits each (Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed), for a total of 30 divisions. A team’s division is automatically set based on the final roster at check-in.
Divisions
– Open (any age)
– Masters (all runners over age 40)
– Super Masters (all runners over age 50)
– High School (all runners in or just graduated High School. Full Teams only)