Snowmobile race claims rider’s life

Snowmobilers in the Alcan 200 Road Rally stopped at the race's halfway point in Dezadeash on Saturday to take a vote on whether they should keep going.

Snowmobilers in the Alcan 200 Road Rally stopped at the race’s halfway point in Dezadeash on Saturday to take a vote on whether they should keep going.

Visibility was terrible, the worst many had experienced in years. There was blowing snow and howling winds over many parts of the course, making it difficult for the machines’ tracks to keep their grip on the road, but the riders chose to go on.

“You ask a bunch of racers if the want to keep racing, what do you think they’ll say?” winner and Whitehorse resident Travis Adams said today. “We all know this isn’t a Sunday drive.”

At Dezadeash, the riders were told that someone had been injured on the course already, Adams said.

What they didn’t know is that racer Jeffery Peede of North Pole, Alaska,  was dead.

According to a report from local RCMP, the 38-year-old man had hit a guardrail about 35 kilometres into the race, at Three Guardsmen Pass, on the B.C. portion of the 250-kilometre route which passes through B.C. and the Yukon.

Riders, race organizers and attendants from the Haines, AK, ambulance service were all on hand, but were unable to save Peede, who was pronounced dead at the Haines medical clinic.

Alaska State Troopers and the Klehini Valley Fire Department also responded at approximately 10:20 a.m., according to the troopers. All had trouble getting to the scene because of the poor visibilty.

“The conditions were the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Adams, who has ridden the Alcan 200 almost every year since 1997. He said he had not heard any details of the incident and only learned Peede had died once he had crossed the finish line.

Other riders in the race are saying Peede was hit by another machine, the driver of which wouldn’t have been able to see him standing by his snowmobile because of the thick fog and blowing snow.

Officers from the Atlin, B.C. RCMP detachment say they are investigating all avenues but won’t say if they are looking into the possibility that the Alaskan was hit by another racer. 

Racers can reach top speeds of 240 kilometres an hour on the course, with last year’s winner finishing the race in one hour, 17 minutes, racing at an average of 192 km/h. This year’s winner, Adams, said the times for the 2009 race were likely significantly lower because of the difficult conditions.

“(The snow machines) don’t cope with snow on the road,” he said. “The tracks are made for running on ice; even bare pavement would be better than snow.”

This is the first death in the Alcan 200’s 40-year history, and it put a sombre tone on the awards ceremony.

“There was a lot of people pretty sad,” Adams said. “They said a prayer for him before they did anything else…and most people gave a portion or all of their winnings to a fund for his family.”