More than likely, it’s going to be a soggy start in Skagway for the beginning of this year’s Klondike Trail of ’98 Road Relay.

As a matter of fact, with what’s left of tropical storm Lester making its way to the West Coast, it could be a soggy race period.

Alaska meteorlogist Jonathan Garner said this morning a low system is moving in and should begin pounding the port city with rain early in the afternoon.

“It’s looking pretty nasty,” Garner said from his Juneau office of the National Weather Service.

“It’s looking like moderate to heavy rain developing by mid-day Friday, and it should last through at least the afternoon and start to subside going into the evening.

Garner said Skagway will probably see about 2.5 centimetres (one inch) of rain, with an outside chance of up to five centimetres.

The National Weather Service is fairly certain there is a strong low pressure system moving in, he said.

Garner said the current forecast is showing Skagway should see the moderate to heavy rain between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., accompanied by winds in the range of 30 kilometres per hour blowing from the northeast.

The rain will then begin easing through to 10 p.m., when it should begin to break up rapidly, Garner said.

There are 170 running teams registered for the 175-kilometre race, on top of the teams entered in the junior, walking and ultra categories.

Running teams will begin leaving at 7 p.m. Yukon time.

Starts will continue at 15-minute intervals through to 11:30 p.m., with the slower teams leaving first and the fastest teams departing last.

Environment Canada meteorologist Ross Macdonald said this morning from his office in Kelowna, B.C. that he’ll be running in the relay some day.

But for now, runners can expect wet conditions inland beginning Friday morning and continuing through to about 5 p.m. Saturday, with the total accummulation of 10 millimetres, or a fraction of what’s expected for Skagway, he said.

Macdonald said it’s looking like the first good storm of the fall season, but it happens to be packing a little extra punch – and the coast is going to get hit the hardest.

Satellite imagery is showing that what’s left of Lester – ranked a category three hurricane when it brushed up against Hawaii last week – is being absorbed by the westerly flow, he said.

“Now it has a little bit of remnant juice from the tropical storm Lester.”

Macdonald said the skys will start to clear at around 5 p.m. Saturday, but it should be noted the temperature is expected to fall to zero Saturday night.

Running the Klondike road relay, said the meteorologist and veteran of eight marathons, is on his list of things he’d like to do.

“My plan is to run a race on every continent of the world,” Garner said.

“And to do North America right, you have to get up north as well.”