Robert Skin races his sled in last Saturday's race from Kotzebue to Kiana, with the race's volunteer air crew keeping a close watch. - Photo by Cathy Jones / for Alaska Newspapers

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Kotz-Kiana race back with flying colors

February 17th 3:04 pm | Hannah Heimbuch

With sunny skies and mild temperatures, the weather made a rare respite from this winter's gnarly norm just in time for the Kotzebue-Kiana sled race Saturday.

Jimmy Baldwin of Fairbanks took home top trophy with an overall race time of two hours, twelve minutes.

The trails were smooth with clear and crisp weather conditions, said Arctic Circle Racing Association secretary Wendie Schaeffer.

"It was the perfect day for a race," she said. "There (were) lots of people out watching, we had a great crowd out front."

Baldwin took home $1,250 - 50 percent of the pot - for his win in the 600plus liquid-open class. There were nine other racers in that category, a total of nine in the 0 to 600 liquid class and seven in the 0 to 600 fan class.

The overall race participation lived up to the hopes of ACRA President Claude Wilson. He and other members and volunteers resurrected the sled race after a six-year hiatus. The race was cut in 2006 after volunteers and racer interest in the event slacked off.

Last week, Wilson had hoped a solid number of at least 20 racers and a nice day for spectating would pump some energy back into the race, which he hopes to make annual once again. With 26 competitors showing up on sleds from Kotzebue, Kiana, Noorvik, Selawik and even Fairbanks, the 160-mile race made a triumphant return.

Trophy winners

600 plus liquid open class

1) Jimmy Baldwin

2) Alan Jessup Jr.

3) Robert Hingsbergen

0-600 liquid class

1) Justin Morris

2) Gary Manouk

3) Calvin Schaeffer

0-600 fan class

1) Wally Carter Sr.

2) Lee "Big Boy" Staheli

3) Gabe Schaeffer

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Copyright 2012 The Arctic Sounder is a publication of Alaska Media, LLC. This article is © 2012 and limited reproduction rights for personal use are granted for this printing only. This article, in any form, may not be further reproduced without written permission of the publisher and owner, including duplication for not-for-profit purposes. Portions of this article may belong to other agencies; those sections are reproduced here with permission and Alaska Media, LLC makes no provisions for further distribution.