Adam Loomis came prepared for last weekend’s Ski Kincaid All Night race with a sleeping bag and a pad with him, just in case. And sure enough, 15 hours into the 24-hour race, he was ready to call it a day. Or a night, as it were.
“It was 1 a.m. and I had skied 200 kilometers in 15 hours,” Loomis said. “I felt OK, but mentally I didn’t know if I wanted to ski nine more hours.”
As he headed to the wax bunker to settle in for a nap, he wasn’t sure if he would resume skiing. By then he had already skied 31 laps on a slushy 6.5-kilometer loop.
“It was pretty nasty conditions,” he said, with lots of wind, some rain and soft, difficult conditions on a hilly course. “But in the morning it was way better, so I skied from 6:45 to 9:45 and did another 50K in that time.”
By the time he was done, Loomis had set a new SKAN record by skiing 39 laps, or 247.5 kilometers — roughly the equivalent of five Tour of Anchorage races.
The race began at 10 a.m. Saturday and ended at 10 a.m. Sunday. Loomis was one of four people who skied in the 24-hour solo division — the majority of participants took part in relays or opted for the 6-hour or 12-hour race. Second place in the 24-hour solo division went to Nick Riordan, who skied 128.2 kilometers.
Loomis, 27, is wrapping up his first winter in Anchorage, where he works as the director of the ski jumping program for the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage. He came here after a long career in nordic combined, a sport that involves ski jumping and cross-country skiing. He’s a former member of the U.S. Ski Team who retired from competition at the end of last winter after just missing a spot on the 2018 Olympic team.
Loomis said his longest race before SKAN was a 16-hour trail race in Utah, where he lived before coming to Anchorage. He said he’s looking forward to his first summer in Alaska in part because he’s a trail runner — he said he has petitioned Mount Marathon to see if he can get a spot in the Fourth of July race in Seward.
On Tuesday, Loomis was back at work on his day job, coaching kids at the Karl Eid Ski Jumps, fully recovered from his long day and night of skiing.
Ski Kincaid All Night
6 hours
Men’s solo — 1) Luke Rosier, 13 laps, 84.3 K, 6:35:11; 2) Robert Tucker, 6 laps, 39.0 K, 5:20:51.
Women’s solo — 1) Brooke Dudley, 11 laps, 71.5 K, 5:57:34; 2) Yereth Rosen, 5 laps, 32.5 K, 5:46:27.
Women’s duo — 1) Megan Kemp, Crystal Berwick, 13 laps, 84.3 K, 6:35:28.
Youth quad — 1) Thomas Erickson, Noa Kam-Magruder, Drake McGinley, Liam Dudley, 19 laps, 123.1 K, 6:31:40; 2) Cade McGinley, Spencer Carpenter, Miya Kam-Magruder, Finn Dudley, 14 laps, 90.6 K, 6:02:23.
12 hours
Men’s solo — 1) Brandon Herhusky, 26 laps, 166.6 K, 11:56:04; 2) Gus Compton, 9 laps, 58.1 K, 11:45:25.
Women’s solo — 1) Melanee Stiassny, 16 laps, 102.8 K, 9:54:08.
Coed quad — 1) Joseph Walling, Kaj Taylor, Jaxson Lee, Garrett Streit, 30 laps, 191.7 K, 12:12:22; 2) Noah Rehberg, Lorraine Gregory, Luke Howe, Ethan Howe, 28 laps, 178.9 K, 12:13:09; 3) Zoe Rodgers, Liam Chisholm, Forrest Rodgers, Cesar Rodgers, 28 laps, 178.7 K, 12:27:32; 4) Nathan Rehberg, Andrew Harmon, Hatcher Smith, Walker Battreall, 24 laps, 153.3 K, 12:16:56; 5) Oliver Wright, Ruthie Richardson, Amae Kam-Magruder, Berit Meyers, 24 laps, 153.3 K, 12:16:57; 6) Jamieson Barnes, Zachary Hurley, John Koskinen, Daniel Evans, 19 laps, 121.2 K, 12:02:56.
Women’s quad — 1) Aubrey Leclair, Ellie Mitchell, Ivy Eski, Quincy Donley, 28 laps, 179.2 K, 11:56:26.
24 hours
Men’s solo — 1) Adam Loomis, 39 laps, 247.5 K, 23:41:57; 2) Nick Riordan, 20 laps, 128.2 K, 23:22:15; 3) Matthew Rieger, 11 laps, 71.0 K, 23:44:59; 4) Richard Gordon-Rein, 10 laps, 64.5 K, 23:44:59.
Coed octo — 1) Duncan Wright, Julia Ditto, Addy Wright, Kai Meyers, Adrianna Proffit, Gavin Kentch, Hannah Cryder, Caleb Rauch, 72 laps, 448.4 K, 23:09:23; 2) Josh Estes, Iain Sims, Christian Baldridge, Curtis Bay, Maddie Taylor, Perry Lundgren, Cady Watson, Gracelyn Ham, 40 laps, 248.8 K, 23:58:29; 3) Kaili Martin, Jared Walter, Caitlin Marsteller, Kassie Van Alst, Felipe Restrepo, 39 laps, 244.1 K, 23:37:45.
Women’s octo — 1) Emma Ulrich, Tiernan McGrath, Ciara Hellmann, Aleah Williams, Alys Korosei, Anna Schmidt, 34 laps, 214.0 K, 23:32:46.