Frost, Flaharty, and a Stanley Cup winner headline the White Mountains 100

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the White Mountains 100 is back with compelling storylines, a strong field and good trail conditions.

“It feels good to finally get the race started again,” race director Stacy Fisk said. “It is good to get the endurance race community back together.”

Two champions — biker Tyson Flaharty and skier Shalane Frost — return from 2019, the last time the 100-mile competition just north of Fairbanks was held.

With the most snow in Fairbanks in 30 years and good grooming, trail conditions should be firm and fast — barring a storm or snow drifting from recent incessant winds.

“BLM (Bureau of Land Management) has done a great job on their grooming efforts this year with all the snow,” Fisk said.

The 11th annual race begins with a mass start at 8 a.m. Sunday at the Wickersham Trailhead on the Elliott Highway. This year’s roster includes 65 men and 20 women.

As usual, fat bikers account for most of the entrants, with 55 set to ride. Seventeen skiers and 10 runners are also entered, with three racers’ disciplines undeclared as of Thursday morning.

The experience of racers is nearly split, with 40 veterans and 45 rookies ready to tackle the 100-mile loop that includes several cabins as aid stations.

The crux of the course may be climbing to the Cache Mountain Divide (3,770 feet) about halfway through, then descending for several miles and navigating the “ice Lakes,” a mile-long section of sloped overflow ice.

All but four of the entrants come from Alaska — 54 from Fairbanks and 24 from Southcentral — with Oregon, Nevada, Washington and California also represented.

A biker has posted the fastest time each year and that is highly unlikely to change in 2022.

Flaharty, a two-time champ coming off a win at this year’s 306-mile Iditarod Trail Invitational, is the favorite. The Fairbanks rider holds the fourth-fastest time in race history at 8 hours, 10 minutes in 2014 (the same year Josh Chelf set the course record of 7:53).

Those most likely to try to hang with Flaharty include Clinton Hodges and Miron Golfman of Anchorage and Luke Buth of Fairbanks, a colleague of Flaharty’s at Goldstream Sports.

Seeking her seventh finish and fourth win, Amber Bethe returns boasting four races completed in under 11 hours. Rookie Ana Jager of Anchorage could provide her toughest competition.

In the ski race, the biggest question is whether five-time women’s champion Shalane Frost can finally win outright by besting all the men. Every year between 2015-19, Frost handily won the women’s division and placed second overall. The closest she’s come to the overall win is 2019, when she set the women’s ski record of 12:42 while finishing 14 minutes behind Brian Atkinson.

Melissa Lewis is also back; she’s never won but posted the third-fastest time in race history (13:45) in 2019.

The men’s race appears up for grabs, with rookie Jeremy Vandermeer and veteran Bobby Gillis likely contenders.

The women’s running race features four-time champ Teri Buck of Palmer and triple winner Laura McDonough of Anchorage. Buck holds the women’s course record of 22:21 from 2015. A finish by McDonough would be her eighth, one short of the record held by John Shook and Nancy Fresco.

For the men, Austin Canning of Eagle River seeks to make an impression in his rookie run.

Only three individuals in race history have completed each discipline: Shook, John Nagel and Eric Troyer (who used a kicksled for his footrace). That number could double this year, with Ned Rozell and Melanie Vriesman only needing a bike finish. Nick Janssen (discipline undeclared) would also join the club with a bike finish.

Vriesman, of Fairbanks, would be the first woman to complete the challenging triple.

Last, but not least, the most recognizable name on the roster, at least for hockey fans, is Jordan Hendry of Fairbanks. He’ll be biking for the first time. After excelling on the ice for the Alaska Nanooks, Hendry played in 131 games in the National Hockey League and won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010.