Buckwheat Donahue, a man described as “larger than life” by longtime friend Jeff Brady passed away in October at the age of 68.

Donahue, born in Oklahoma City, was known for many things in Skagway, his adopted home.

In 1987, he founded the Buckwheat Classic as a “way to get more women to come to Skagway in the Winter.”

Brady told the Star in October after the passing of his friend that the first year, there were terrible conditions and only 13 people signed up.

Now, it draws upward of 400 cross-country skiers annually on the Log Cabin Ski Trails, which are maintained by Skagway volunteers.

The 2020 Buckwheat International Classic was held this weekend, a couple of weeks earlier in March due to the upcoming Arctic Winter Games - which were cancelled on Saturday due to fear over the novel COVID-19 virus.

The Buckwheat Classic follows a theme, and skiers are encouraged to dress in costumes. This year, there was only one theme fitting for the event - to honour Donahue and his signature howl.

Snow carvings, a popular feature of the race, paid homage to Donahue. A sculpture of his face howling sat near the trail, in front of the aid station.

Skiers once again had the option of racing 50, 25 or 10-kilometre classic cross country ski races, as well, there was a five-kilometre kids race.

It was all Yukoners to place at the top of the 50-kilometre division in both men’s and women’s.

Former Yukon Olympian Knute Johnsgaard, paced the men’s side finishing the longest distance in 2:45:37. Colin Abbott was nine seconds behind. Caelan Pangman McLean came third.

Emilie Stewart-Jones topped the women’s 50 km race in 3:31:21, 15 minutes quicker than Jane Hollenberg. Tiffani Fraser was third.

Finn Morley, from Juneau, Ak won the 25-kilometre men’s race in 1:30:36. Locals Christian Schmidt and Stephen Waterreus came second and third respectively.

Sonjaa Schmidt, in 1:36:36, won the women’s 25 km distance. The second and third positioning came down to a photo finish. Lois Johnston edged out Laura Salmon by less than a second.

Sasha Masson and Derek Deuling finished with a 0.3-second difference in the 10-kilometre race. Masson’s ski tip crossed the line before Deuling’s. Victor Thibeault came third.

Constance Lapointe only needed 40:48 spent on the trail to win the 10 km women’s race. Dahlia Lapointe came second and Abigail Jirousek followed.

Nicolas Giangrande, Minty Bradford, Micah McConnell, Sam Phillips and Niamh Hupe, all won their age categories in the five-kilometre races.

Along with the winners of the races, special awards were handed out.

Carl Johansen of Terrace, B.C. earned the John Briner Award for Most Inspirational Skier. Johansen brought two friends from New Zealand with five bottles of Donahue’s favourite hot sauce ‘Kaitaiya’.

The Des Duncan Volunteer Appreciation Award was given to Andy Beierly and Si Dennis Jr. - two long-time pre-race breakfast cooks.

Miss Buckwheat 2020 went to Eva Mandeville and Best Costume went to Whitehorse’s Amanda Mouchet, who sewed several BISC shirts together into a full bodysuit.

The LCSS Member Award Drawing went to Christian Schmidt. Stuart Brown of Skagway had the highest bid of $400 for a handmade quilt by Mrs. Baldwin.

Donations from the day’s events on the memorial money tree for Buckwheat will go toward the Warming Hut Fund.

Keep on howling.