Sports

For Juneau Runners, September means some seriously crazy running. For the past 31 years, teams of runners run, walk or crawl–whatever means necessary–through a relay-style, ten-leg race that begins in Skagway and ends nearly 110 miles later in Whitehorse (most of it in the middle of the night).

The length of the ten legs vary from just over 5 miles up to 16 miles. The terrain is quite hilly (especially for leg 2) and can be quite challenging.  This year it rained on and off for the first five legs, and was very foggy for most of legs 2 and 3.

There were 1,396 runners making up 146 teams from all over Alaska and parts of Canada. Some runners are in it strictly for the fun, others are mildly competitive, and some teams are downright determined to win.

It was a good year for Juneau runners, placing within the top three in three categories: Open, Mixed and Women’s only.

In the Open category, the C.C. Striders took second place with a total time of 14.29.34.

In the Women’s Only category, Hard Women are Good to Find, took third place with a total time of 16:44:16.

And in the Mixed category, Team 8 took first place with a total time of 12:22:46.

For more details on the race, visit the Klondike Road Relay results page.

Juneau teams on the ferry riding to and from the Klondike this weekend share their thoughts on the race:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYzoag5RkCw]

Enjoy the Klondike Road Relay – 2013 slideshow.

Capital City Fire and Rescue firefighters, Juneau Police officers, and their families participated in the Third Annual 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb at the Juneau Federal Building on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013.

The event was intended to remember the 343 firefighters and 60 police officers who perished during 9-11 in New York City as well as a benefit for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

The Thunder Mountain Falcons fell to the Soldotna Stars 61 to 6 on a balmy and dry Friday evening in Juneau.

In Palmer, the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears prevailed 33 to 24 over the Colony Knights.

Neither was a conference game, so it doesn’t count toward the run toward playoffs in the Southeast Conference.  Soldotna is the powerhouse of the Northern Lights Conference;  Thunder Mountain is part of the Southeast Conference, and Juneau-Douglas just joined the SEC after years in the Railbelt.  Colony is  a member of the Railbelt Conference.

Soldotna scored less than two minutes into the game, with three touchdowns in the first quarter. The Stars easily scored four more in the second quarter then one in the third.

The Falcons’ only touchdown came in the fourth quarter, on a 57-yard carry by senior Ben Jahn. The Falcons’ attempt at a two-point conversion was blocked.  The Stars’ final touchdown came midway through the fourth quarter, for a total of 61 points to the Falcons’ 6.

In Palmer,  Crimson Bears’ running back Demetrius Campos scored four touchdowns.  At half-time the Bears led 13 to 0. The second half was more competitive, with one Colony TD in the third and three in the fourth quarter.  But  Juneau’s George Sua scored another touchdown for the Bears in the last quarter, sealing the game at 33 to 24.

The Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears turned the tables on the North Pole Patriots this weekend, for a 55 to 20 win at Adair-Kennedy field.

Within seconds after the game began, JDHS senior Demetirus Campos ran 40 yards for the first touchdown.

Shortly after, Campos had another long run on an interception, the extra point was good, and the Bears had set a formidable tone for the rest of the game.

Going into the match, North Pole was ranked first in Alaska’s medium schools’ football.  Crimson Bears head coach Rich Sjoross  had expected it to be the toughest conference game for both schools this season.

“They beat us here last year by 20 points,” he recalled. “They’ve got some great athletes, some tall receivers that are getting division one scholarships.  And we’re just a bunch of scrappy guys from Juneau that know how to stick together and that’s what they’re doing this year.”

Sjoross thought the Patriots were stunned by the Bears.

“Obviously they were. We come out and get two quick scores on them – you can’t ask for a better start than that. And then we were just able to keep the pressure on them,” he said.

The Patriots had three touchdowns to Juneau’s eight, scored by Campos, senior Kris Hill and junior Dorian Isaak.

The Thunder Mountain Falcons’ varsity had a week off.

JDHS and North Pole are in the small Southeast Conference with the Falcons this year.  KTOO will look at that move later this week.

Aug. 30 Update: Peter Nestler says he made another attempt at the rope skipping and soccer ball juggling record on Thursday evening. He says this time, he completed 126 rope skips in the allotted time.

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The Ketchikan-born, Juneau-raised professional rope jumper is two for three on his world record attempts in Juneau.

Peter Nestler knocked out his second unofficial world record during a show Wednesday night at the Juneau Christian Center.

“Well, last night I hit 104 with the soccer ball,” he said. “Ended up being about 44 seconds without missing.”

The current record for most rope skips while juggling a soccer ball in one minute is 31, according to the Guinness World Records press office.

Before he leaves town Friday, Nestler said he’ll make another attempt to go the full minute.

Tuesday evening, he made a grueling attempt to hop the fastest mile on one foot while jumping rope at Thunder Mountain High School. He was on pace to beat the record, but about three-quarters of the way through, he tripped and fell, disqualifying the attempt.

Last week, Nestler unofficially set the record for most bum skips in 30 seconds at Glacier Valley Elementary School.

Nestler lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Over the weekend, the Juneau Douglas Ice Association kicked off its season with a Learn to Play event at Treadwell Ice Arena. Treadwell donated ice time so Juneau’s youth could lace up skates for the first time and enjoy the day with JDIA coaches and advanced players.

All photos by Steve Quinn