TOWER — Kristoffer Jonson wanted to finish his 135-mile race from International Falls to Fortune Bay Resort Casino before 9 p.m. Tuesday.
After all, that's when the restaurant at Fortune Bay closes.
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He did so with more than two hours to spare, pulling his sled full of gear across the snowy finish line just before 7 p.m., with a finish time of 35 hours 47 minutes.
An hour later, he ordered the fried walleye sandwich at Fortune Bay's Sunset Steakhouse. But by then, he said his stomach had caught up to him and he wasn't ready for it.
Jonson, 41, of Seattle, won the "on foot" category of the notoriously difficult winter race, which is run almost exclusively on snowmobile trails and requires participants to haul a list of required survival gear.
He didn't think he could win until the third and final checkpoint at Mile 110. There, he was told the two runners leading the race dropped out.
"They said, 'The next person behind you is like two hours back. Just don't hurt yourself, and you're going to be OK,'" Jonson said.
He ran — and walked — the last segment scared.
"I was terrified. I heard footsteps, I saw shadows, I saw lights," Jonson said. "Everything chasing me down."
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Jonson, who was born and raised in St. Louis Park, said he took eight hours off his finish time from last year. He credited that to advice from last year's winner, Alan Chapman, who told him to just wear the running shoes he's used to — not something special meant to help in snow.
Carla Gabrielson, of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, won the women's race, finishing Wednesday morning with a time of 48 hours and 45 minutes.
It's her third Arrowhead 135 win and fifth finish.
At the third checkpoint late Tuesday evening, Gabrielson told the News Tribune that she comes to win, not just finish.
“I train very, very hard because I like winning,” Gabrielson said.
Sitting on a wooden bench inside the tent, Gabrielson had a nagging cough and said her back was occasionally bothering her. Tape protected her nose and cheeks from the cold, though she wished it was colder.
But she wasn’t worried about the 25 miles between her and the finish line. She trains five days a week at a fitness center for five hours at a time, running 10-20 miles, and then on Saturday, she puts in a 30-50 mile day.
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“I feel great because I train hard,” Gabrielson said before she got back on the trail.
Other results
Patrick Ogden, 22, of Hancock, Michigan, was the first man to finish the bike category. The Arrowhead 135 rookie finished in 17 hours, 54 minutes.
Kate Coward, 30, of Minneapolis, was the first woman to finish on a bike, with a time of 22 hours, 54 minutes.
In the cross-country ski division, Grant Halvorson, 27, of St. Paul, was the first skier to complete the race, setting a new record of 20 hours, 27 minutes — 30 minutes faster than the record set in 2020.
The only other ski finisher, Henry Campbell, 23, of Superior, Wisconsin, finished just over an hour later with a time of 21 hours, 29 minutes.
As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, one of two kicksledders remained on the course, having left the final checkpoint at 7:06 a.m.
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Participants have until 7 p.m. Wednesday — 60 hours after the start — to finish.
This story was updated at 9:26 a.m. Jan. 29 a.m. with results and quotes from Carla Gabrielson and an update to the kicksledders' progress. It was originally posted at 8:57 p.m. Jan. 28.
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