Last month, in one of the busiest days of our entire year, the KNOM staff briefly paused from our coverage of Iditarod (about which you’ll read more here) to turn our attention to another, even more local race — and a far more fast-paced one. On March 12, we covered the 50th anniversary running of the Nome-Golovin, a 200-mile, round-trip sprint race on snowmobiles (called snowmachines in Alaska) from Nome to the nearby community of Golovin and back. (Just to give an idea of its pace: the winner finished the 200-mile course in 2 hours, 7 minutes, 9 seconds, giving him an average speed of 94 mph.)
Nome-Golovin is greatly beloved and closely followed within KNOM country, not least because most of its competitors come from Nome and the villages and towns immediately surrounding it. And unlike Iditarod, which is a source of attention for many media outlets throughout the state, the coverage of Nome-Golovin is largely restricted to KNOM and a few other Nome news outlets. Especially for same-day, live coverage, KNOM is our region’s “go-to” for the latest, as snowmachine racers depart from, and return to, the start/finish line on the frozen ice of the Bering Sea. It’s truly a team effort, with all of our current volunteers — Emily, Mitch, Laura, and Maddie — working with the rest of our staff to do frequent, live reports throughout the race’s frantic pace.
For our community, distinctively Alaskan events like the Nome-Golovin mean a lot, and it means a lot to us that your ongoing support enables us to cover them. Thank you for making that possible. (Photos: racers depart the Nome-Golovin start/finish line; volunteer Maddie Winchester interviews a competitor.)
