SCHOLARSHIP DAY 17: The Fairbanks Marathon

I remember the times when getting up at 7:00am was easy; recently, the early starts have proved difficult. Today was no different. The main item on the itenary today was to watch the Fairbanks Equinox Marathon which was scheduled to start at 8:00am. This particular marathon would also mark 50 years of this yearly event, so I liked to think I was a small part of Fairbank's history. My slow and sluggish movement out of bed meant I was late out the hostel and had to powerwalk to the starting point on the soccer field at the University campus.

I arrived dead on 8:00am, with just seconds left before the crowd of both young and mature athletes were set to leave on their 26 mile journey. The event's layout and structure reminded me a bit of the Thetford Forest 'EACH' Cycle Ride events that Dad and I took part in a couple of years: some partipants could choose to do a shorter route, or a less challenging one, and there would be a series of water stops and checkpoints every couple of miles or so. The race started this morning at about -1 degrees celcius; I was wrapped up and still quite cold, so I can't for a minute imagine how cold it was to stand at the start line in just t-shirts and shorts!

My decision to have breakfast and then to wait at the finish line for the runners to return was hindered by a full cafe and a long queue filing out the doors. This maybe normal for Sam's Sourdough Cafe, but I got the feeling that many parents today were dining whilst their sons or daughters were running. I decided not to wait in the long queue, but to return to the university. I just happened to find myself walking around the university; down corridors, through doors, in and out the endless maze that was just one of the buildings. I gathered not long in, on my unauthorised expedition, that it was the sports building; young university students playing basketball, the sign saying 'Men's Changing Rooms and Lockers' and the distinctive smell of sweat were all give-aways. Eventually, I found the way out and back to the finish line, where bread and water (and powerade) were awaiting the athletes.

The record for the 26 mile Equinox marathon was set in 1984 by a guy called Stan Justice; a time of 2 hours 41 minutes and 30 seconds. Well, the record wasn't broken today, so Stan holds it for another year. The winner for this year was a young athlete called Eric Strabel who crossed the line at the 2.45.15 and he was most certainly well in the lead; 6 minutes in fact before second place was grabbed. He didn't even look puffed out!

I got chatting to a guy- another Dan actually- who is a post-doc student, teaching Spanish here in Fairbanks. His wife is a glaciologist and is taking a tour north in a few days, and there might be a chance of me just tagging on that. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! He ran a shorter course today, and complained about the amount of tree roots that were hindering some of the route. I gather from my research that tree roots are short in length and they have a horizontal architecture to avoid the permafrost, so no wonder runners were having difficulties through the forests today. We waited to watch his son cross the line, contact details were shared and we parted. I returned to the cafe, only to be confronted with yet another queue, but I decided to wait outside. It was whilst waiting that I saw a land rover start all by itself, but I gather that some cars do this to prevent the possibility of failing to start later on; understandably so, the temperature was only 4 degrees by midday today!

 

Fuelled on yet more pancakes, (oh I do feel guilty), I proceeded downtown to watch a couple of documentaries about Alaska in the visitors centre, but I arrived too early and so took an unplanned walk through some of Downtown Fairbanks I hadn't explored yet. The city was, once again, very quiet and was not acting very city-like at all. My little walk was very educating; I learnt that Fairbanks doesn't follow Burgess in all of its aspects. (Remember the Burgess Model from school?) Athough there's evidence of a light manufacturing zone, it seems that the service sector has took over most of the factories. In terms of housing, terraced housing is absent, and instead the CBD borders detached wooden huts, with ample garden spaces and car parking spaces. What was interesting was that there was no monotomy in the building design; each had it's own take, its own patterns. Probably most of these houses have been decorated by the inhabitants- as that seems to be the way here- and so it wasn't a surprise to see houses in dis-repair. Others, on the other hand, were very aesthetically pleasing. Take a look at this one.

Street art is everywhere here in Fairbanks. The painting of the pipes I mentioned everyday is something unique for this city, but large scale wall painting is common everywhere. I've seen this kind of thing in Anchorage, Seward but Fairbanks must have the most examples. Here's one I quite enjoyed; the focal point is quite clearly the mountain, not necessarily the action on the ground.

 I completed this little walk, had a BLT, and approached the visitor centre again to watch the two scheduled documentaries. The first was specifically on the tsunamis that Alaska has experienced in recent times; the last one being initated by the 1964 earthquake, and certainly the most damaging. Others have been caused by ground subsidence and avalanches, both of which make Alaska's coast a high risk zone. The second of the two documentaries was about the benefits and costs of living through an Alaskan winter, with a focus on the city of Fairbanks. Whether the benefits outweigh the costs, I haven't made my midn up yet. Whilst there are plenty of outdoor and fun things to spend time doing, the winter is a depressing season; with no more than about 2 or 3 hours of light during December and January. Roads are treacherous and effort must be made on ensuring you have the right clothes. I was quite pleased that despite this was a 1986 production, there was a lot of emphasis on permafrost, and the subject was explored quite deeply. Most of the information was not new except from the fact that a core sample is dug from the ground before any building construction, to ensure it is free from permafrost. Geologists and permafrost specialists are on call to test these at the site, so there are jobs within the permafrost world after all!

I proceeded back to the hotel, this time by bus, and will opt for a slightly later waking up time tomorrow, to compensate for the valuable time lost this morning. I have just had a very successful phone conversation with my parents, and have just played a couple of games of 'Uno'; the first I lost, and the second wasn't too good either. Better not go to any Casinos when I'm in Los Angeles later this year, I think!