KLONDIKE! Blog 2015

The results are now OFFICIAL, posted by Derby Score guy Howard Gordon, Esq., and the esteemed “auditors”! Well Race fans – for starters, the weather came through for us again this year! …

With conditions near perfect for the event. We were anxious that there might not be any snow at all, and when we got to Trexler Friday night there was precious little.

The Camp had received all the rain that we did the week before, on frozen ground, and the whole camp was dangerously iced over. It took quite some maneuvering to get our vehicles back up the rutty (road?) into the outpost campsite that we love so much. BUT we did! And as we were setting up camp in the beautiful mountain laurel the snow began to fall.

Tucked into our cardboard, foam and high‐tech Dupont fiber cocoons, with a belly full of Mr. Maier’s famous hearty Klondike Goulash, our Scouts slept well and were ready to put in fine performances all around. By race time 6 inches of snow was packing down over the icy trails making for great sledding, and the daytime high temp hovered around freezing, preventing the dreaded mud festival.

SCREAMIN’ EAGLES – 3rd Place! – captain TYLER LONGO, JOE PINELLI, JOE HARMON, LUKE DEGEN, WILL
McCARTNEY, THOMAS HAYES ‐ Battled unrelenting pressure from the competition to grab the Bronze!, The
Screamin’ Eagles carried a big legacy and, with huge expectations on them – did not disappoint! Well done Lads!
Our brothers in arms, the T188 Mustangs, having disappointed themselves for the past several years, finally struck
gold, with (a certain former 236 Committee Chairs brother‐ Jay Thomson’s) Troop 50 right behind them for the
silver. Kudos to you our friends! Thomas Maguire states a mercy win was due so as to not totally discourage them

THE IRON SOLDIERS – 4th ! – captain ALBERTO GARZA‐GOMEZ, EVAN COLLINS, DAVID BOISVERT, ZACH ROMAINE,
RYAN YANG, NICHOLAS MARIANO In hot pursuit! … A mere SEVEN points behind the Eagles! Wow these guys
were like a sleeper cell quietly waiting to unleash the power. 39 points off the top dogs‐ 39! Ryan and Nicholas on
their first Klondike performed like champs. Who is Nicholas Mariano you ask? He’s Alberto’s friend who joined the
Troop… 3 weeks ago! Welcome aboard! … I’m feeling’ preeeeety good already about the odds for next year!

ARCTIC BEAVERS –Here it is folks (drum roll please) ‐ the feel good story of the year … Once again, a 236 Team was
captained by a veteran Klondikeur who volunteered to lead the almost exclusively all‐rookie team across the
tundra. This fine Tradition was initiated by Sam Walczuk, the first to bring a rookie team into the top 20. This year,
captain SAM PONTIER lead CHRISTIAN MAIER, CHRIS MULLIN, LOGAN HART, HUDSON McFARLAND, JAYDEN
O’BOYLE ‐ to a 13th place finish ! Mr. Dave Marihugh, master of positive attitude, said he wished he could give
them more than 100 points at the Scout Spirit Station ‐ How Cool is that?!

So! the NEW RECORDs : 9th year in a row 236 has taken a podium position 7th time (in 9 years) 236 has put 2 teams in the top 15, 6th time (in 9 years) 236 has put 3 Teams in the top 15.

There were 470 participants this year – roughly 420 Scouts and 50 Scouters. 31 Teams competed for the gold. That’s a few less sleds than average, but with bigger teams. Blame the weather? We were one of only two troops to field three sleds … the other Troop – not a contender. Our Long Valley brothers however made a good show of it.

T436 raced two sleds, placing 11th and 21st and Troop 36 into the top 20 with two sleds finishing 18th and 20th !

Special thanks to the OLD HUSKIES, INCLUDING ; quartermaster to the stars‐ ERIC DEGEN, Frontier Chef and the guy who heard the tarp go down at 4 AM (12°F and snowing) and got up, secured the camp kitchen and had hot coffee and breakfast ready at 6 AM – ROB MAIER!! The guy who pulled that fine looking (thanks Tony!) new Troop Trailer as part of team GMC Yukon with an also fine looking sled on the roof‐ PETE LONGO!, Returning celebrity guest stars ALBERTO GARZA and DAVE CLARK, and, on his first arctic expedition ‐KEVIN MULLIN!

A Note from the District Event Coordinators and Kitchen staff – Thanks 236 for all the load‐out help on Sunday! T236 put them about an hour and a half ahead of their usual after derby work schedule, much appreciated. So that’s the KLONDIKE! BLOG‐ thanks for Reading it! Congratulations again to all participants and supporters