KattiJo’s 2020 Copper Basin 300
Nearly 50 teams signed up to run the 2020 Copper Basin 300. But by race start day, only 27 teams were in the chute to begin the 300 mile journey. And by the end of the race, three days later, only 14 teams crossed the finish line.
While every race sees last minute withdrawals for the standard reasons of minor kennel illnesses, a lack of proper training and broken down vehicles, the primary reason for teams pulling out of this particular race can be summed up in one word: COLD. In the days leading up the race, we scrolled weather apps like they were the new trends in social media. Accuweather, Wunderground, NOAA, Windy — they all said the same thing. This race weekend we’d see highs in the -30’s and lows near -50.
It was hard to digest this information each night as I laid in my warm, comfy bed, counting down the number of sleeps left until my next would be out on the trail. “It’s OK,” I thought. “There are nice checkpoints out there where I can warm up. I just need to stay warm on the trail in between the checkpoints…” In these moments I found myself being reluctantly grateful for the long, painful cold snap Fairbanks was having. Starting around the winter solstice of December 21, we’d been in a deep freeze, with nearly no days of relief, and I’d had the opportunity to train myself and my team for running in temperatures as low as -50. But those were individual runs that lasted for only a few hours (temps sat in the negative teens at our house in the hills). Could I do that same -40 and -50 running for multiple days in a row? I guess I was going to find out. Withdrawing from the race was not something I considered for more than a few seconds.