Eagle River's Chris Olds, 38, won this year's Iron Dog with first-time partner, Tyler Huntington, of Galena. Olds is a 1991 graduate of Chugiak High School. Photo by David Morse

Wisdom played the better part of valor for local snowmachiner Chris Olds, 38, of Eagle River – winner of the 2010 Iron Dog ultradistance snowmachine race that concluded Saturday in Fairbanks.

Olds, a 1991 Chugiak graduate, has been racing all forms of cross-country and snow cross races since the late 1998 race season, averaging nearly a dozen races a season in Valdez, Fairbanks, Mat-Su and points between.

He has been racing the Iron Dog since 2000 and has run with four different partners since, except in 2005. In 2004, he and partner Tyson Johnson failed to finish the 1,971-mile race, and in 2003, the race was cancelled.

After being bummed out watching the start of the 2005 race as a spectator, Olds was approached by fellow racer, Matt Spernak, of Anchorage to race in 2006.

"It was more or less a last minute thing to race that year," he said. The pair did well, finishing fifth.

Olds raced with Spernak through 2009, placing 10th last year.

This year Olds sought out Tyler Huntington, of Galena, who had been racing with others since 2007, placing third in 2008.

Olds said one of the challenges in racing the tandem event is to find a partner compatible in temperament, goals and desire.

"I have been fortunate. I've always had a partner that was pretty much like-minded with me," he said Sunday evening, hours after returning to Eagle River from Fairbanks, by truck, with the Polaris IQ 600 sled in tow.

Olds said this year's race was bizarre, beginning with weather at or above freezing for the majority of the trek to Nome, then dropping down to minus 30 on the Yukon for the return sprint to Fairbanks.

"I think it was minus 20 degrees when we finished," he said of crossing the finish line at the Riverboat Discovery Landing just before noon Saturday.

The team's total race time amounted to 41 hours, 4 minutes, 9 seconds – not particularly fast, but best this year.

Olds bore few ill effects of this year's race save a frostbite mark off his left eyebrow.

High winds coming across the trail eluded the wake of the machine's windshield, along with the duct tape around the racer's goggles and helmet leaving the reminder of the elements.

This year's event was a race of attrition – 18 of 29 teams dropped out, most due to mechanical problems brought on from pushing the rides in the relatively warm weather and snowbare trails.

"We ran a conservative race. We sacrificed speed in order to keep our machines together," he said.

On rare occasions, Olds and Huntington were able to open the throttle, pushing 100 mph, according to the reading on Olds' GPS.

Olds also said the pair was able to get adequate sleep along the race route thanks to the mandatory layovers.

Olds said the most memorable part of the race was pulling into the village of Galena, Huntington's home town at 2:30 a.m. with the pair being greeted by more than 30 residents.

"They had a bonfire out there along with roadside flares along the trail to bring us into the village," he said.

"Tyler is a rock star out there. It's amazing how much help we got out there in the villages," Olds added.

With other teams dropping off like flies, the Eagle River racer said the pair did have some minor repairs to make, like tightening the tracks, removing a broken sway bar, and replacing torsion springs that had melted, along the way.

But all in all, things went extremely well with the pair claiming the lion's share of the $184,000 purse.

Olds said it was great to be back in Eagle River with wife, Christine, and daughters Haley, 8, and Mya, 5.

He thanked his sponsors – Walker Evans Racing; McKinley Polaris, of Fairbanks; Big Lake Power Sports; and Iron Horse Expresso – and already is looking to next year's race. He and Huntington have already verbally agreed to race the 2011 Iron Dog together.

"We want to see if we can do it (win) again – or at least come close," he said.

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, March 4, 2010.