FAIRBANKS - Had he been a little more “fit and motivated,” Fairbanks cyclist Jeff Oatley probably could have gone even faster in the inaugural White Mountains 100.

As it was, Oatley covered the 100-mile trail in the White Mountains National Recreation Area to win the human-powered race in 12 hours, 22 minutes, which was good enough for a 19-minute victory over his friend and rival, Pete Basinger of Anchorage. Oatley averaged just over 8 mph, the only racer in the field to do so.

His victory avenged a 33-minute loss to Basinger in the 350-mile Iditarod Trail Invitational earlier in the month.

Oatley, 40, said both he and Basinger were still recovering from the Invitational and weren’t able to really crank it up. They rode together for the first 60 miles of the race before Oatley pushed ahead.

“Neither one of us was having a great day,” he said. “We were kind of enjoying it without killing ourselves too much.”

“If somebody who is fit and motivated, I think it could have been 11 to 11 1/2 hours,” added Oatley, who was still feeling some aches and pains from the Invitational. “The trails were awesome.”

Indeed, the first annual White Mountains 100, the brainchild of Fairbanks skier Ed Plumb, went off without a hitch. The trails were set up perfectly for the most part, the weather couldn’t have been much better and all but one of the 50 competitors who started the race finished.

Cyclists took the top six spots in the race, including Oatley’s wife, Heather Best, in third place. Best finished just 1 hour, 11 minutes behind her husband. She beat out fellow Fairbanksan Kevin Breitenbach by two minutes and Ethan Kopacz of Anchorage was fifth in 14 hours, 11 minutes.

Best surprised herself and her husband by finishing third.

“I was thinking more like 15 to 20 hours,” Best said. “I felt good and trail conditions were great.”

She also had Janice Tower of Anchorage, a multiple winner of the Susitna 100 in Southcentral, breathing down her neck. Tower placed sixth overall, less than two hours behind Best.

Said Oatley of his wife’s performance, “She was flying.”

Mike Kramer of Fairbanks was the first skier to finish, placing seventh overall in 16 hours, 10 minutes to beat Brad Marden of Anchorage by 36 minutes and finish eighth overall. Fairbanks’ Max Kaufman was third in the ski division and ninth overall in 18 hours, 11 minutes.

“Those guys were a lot faster than I thought they could ski it,” Oatley said.

Kramer skate skied the entire course, though in some places it took creative technique.

“The trail was so narrow in some places it’s hard to skate,” he said.

“I did a lot of double poling and modified skate strokes that would keep your ski tips out of the willows. Whatever the terrain would give you is what I took advantage of.”

“There was a lot of overflow but it was frozen for the most part. There was a lot of ice but not a lot of water,” Kramer said. “I got pitched off in the willows a couple times (on sloping ice) but it was all pretty doable. I was able to keep my skis on throughout.”

Skiing conditions weren’t the greatest but they were faster than Kramer expected. He finished the race about eight hours faster than he thought he would.

“I was thinking about 24 hours as a realistic goal,” Kramer said. “It was apparent by the second checkpoint I was ahead of that.” “It wasn’t ideal glide but it was warm enough that it wasn’t too draggy,” he said. “I had good wax and some good competition to keep me pushing down the trail.”

Trystan Herriott of Fairbanks was the lone runner to complete the course in 36 hours, 14 minutes to place 47th out of 49 finishers.

Fairbanks skier Amy Marsh was the final racer across the finish line at 9:49 p.m. on Monday for a time of 37 hours, 49 minutes, which was well ahead of the cut-off time of 60 hours.

Rorik Peterson of Fairbanks, one of only two runners entered, was the only racer to pull out of the race. Peterson withdrew at Windy Gap cabin, 60 miles into the race, due to plantar fasciitis.

The event, which required the blessing — and a permit — from the Bureau of Land Management, received rave reviews from racers.

“It seemed to go unbelievably well for a first-time event,” said Oatley, a veteran of many human-powered winter races. “I was talking to friends from Anchorage after the race and they were like, this is definitely going to be the race to do. The trail and scenery is so incredible out there.”

The race is a “great addition to the endurance race community,” said Kramer. The race organization was “impeccable,” he said.

“The checkpoints took great care of the athletes,” said Kramer. “That really helps to be able to go in and get a hot meal and dry your hat off a little bit between those 20-mile stretches between cabins. It was a huge benefit and a lift to the spirits.”

Plumb, the race organizer who also finished 43rd with a time of 34 hours despite not getting any sleep the night before the race while dealing with last-minute problems, was thankful everything worked out as well as it did.

Judging from the feedback he’s received from competitors, the event was a success, he said.

“People are saying it was the best race ever; the most organized race they’ve ever been in; the best course they’ve ever been on,” Plumb said.

Plumb said he plans on putting the race on again next year, assuming BLM goes along with it.

Collin Cogley, an outdoor recreation planner with the Bureau of Land Management who handled the permit application for the race, was on the trail as an observer to make sure BLM’s stipulations were followed. For the most part, Cogley liked what he saw.

“I think it went really well,” Cogley said. “Things worked well at the trailhead for parking. There weren’t big clumps of folks on the trail. The folks that ran the checkpoints were on the ball.”

Race organizers did everything BLM asked and more in some cases, Cogley said.

“By and large, everything went really well,” he said.

There will be a post-race party for racers and volunteers from 6-9 tonight at the Ken Kunkle Community Center in Goldstream Valley.

Racers, volunteers and fans are invited to relax and share some photos and humorous after-the-fact stories about the race. If you have photos to share, bring them along on a USB drive or CD. There will be a projector set up for an informal slide show. Dinner is free but attendees are asked to BYOB.