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Marks cruises to Yukon 800 win
By DANNY MARTIN, Staff Writer
Arnold Marks Jr., named his boat Close Enough after a family moment.
A year ago, he was building his boat in Fairbanks and his sister-in-law, Margaret Moses, stood by and watched him construct the vessel he would use in the Doyon Yukon 800 Marathon.
"All I kept saying to her is 'close enough' and that's when we named it,'' said Marks, 23 and a three-time entrant from Tanana.
On Sunday afternoon, Close Enough won the 46th edition of the Yukon 800, finishing far ahead of the next closest boat, Tom Kriska's Miss Nay Nay Rose.
Marks and his crew of navigator Archie Beetus and engineer Dwayne Roberts compiled a total time of 12 hours, 54 minutes and 32 seconds in the out-and-back course from Fairbanks to Galena that runs along the Tanana and Yukon rivers.
Amid sunny conditions, Marks and his crew arrived at the Chena Pump Campground at 12:26 p.m. to the cheers about 300 spectators, including Tim Ned and Alan Ned, who waved a large sign with "Close Enough,'' on it.
The victory for Marks, who placed seventh last year and scratched in 2004, has some championship connections.
Marks is a half-brother of Milton Moses Jr., who drew the No. 1 starting position for this year's race and whose father, Milton Moses, won the event in 1969.
"We grew up watching this race and it's nice to get a chance to win,'' said Marks, whose other half-brother, Archie Agnes, has also competed in the Yukon 800.
Beetus and Roberts were the crew for last year's winner, Harold Attla, who has captured a race-record seven titles.
"It is pretty cool,'' Beetus said of being on the winning boat for the second straight year.
Attla didn't race this year because he wanted to focus on his remodeling business, where Marks and Beetus' father, Wilmer, also work.
Marks, a senior English major at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, praised his crew, who also lay down at the front of the boat to help balance it when it turned corners and reached speeds of more than 50 mph.
"They did a great job,'' Marks said. "It was really rough on the Yukon by Tanana, and this guy (Beetus) probably has got oatmeal for muscles on his back right now. We really pounded through (waves) and I tried to slow down for some of them, but Duane just kept telling me 'Gun it!''
Close Enough was the sixth riverboat to start the race Saturday morning in two-minute increments, but it was first into the halfway point at Galena, compiling a first-day total of 6:27:48. The boat and its occupants, though, had to survive some high waves on the Yukon before reaching Galena.
On Sunday, it overcame hitting a log on the river near Tanana.
Marks said he thought one of the toughest challenges of the race was withstanding driftwood Saturday on the Tanana River from the starting point at the campground to the checkpoint at Tanana.
"There was really a lot of driftwood,'' Marks said. "It was like driving through a minefield.''
Marks and his crew are scheduled to receive about $4,800 of a $12,000 purse. The payouts, said race coordinator Audrey Jones, will be presented to the race finishers during the Fairbanks Outboard Association's meeting at 6 Tuesday night in the Two Street Coffeehouse in the Co-op Building downtown.
"Just pay some bills,'' Marks said of his plans for the prize money.
Kriska, the race winner in 1996, finished second overall Sunday in 13:35:22, as he and his surprised crew of wife, Sherri, and daughter, Charlisa Folger, came in about 25 minutes behind Close Enough.
"No way!,'' were repeated reactions from Tom and Sherri after they arrived at the campground and learned their boat was in second place.
The reactions were understandable because Miss Nay Nay Rose left Galena Sunday later than the scheduled start of 6 a.m., after oil leaked into the fuel pump of the outboard motor.
"We started five minutes behind and we were the last ones out of there,'' Tom Kriska said.
Miss Nay Nay Rose passed two boats near Ruby on the Yukon River--Jen Jen, captained by five-time champion Bill Page, and Hughes Blues, captained by Hank Captain--and Kriska said no other boats were in sight on the way to Fairbanks. Mechanical problems later forced Page to scratch.
"Once we passed Bill, I said 'Well, we got third place,''' he said. " We just didn't see anybody else, and I thought we were going slow or something else because there's nobody around."
The Edge of Nowhere, captained by Tyler Huntington, left the starting line on Saturday morning in the ninth position among 11 boats. On Sunday afternoon, Huntington and crewmates Charlie Huntington and Josh Cadzow rose to a third-place finish of 14:54:04.
Five boats completed the race while the other six scratched.
A.J. Dick and his crew of Miss Ivory Jacks II placed fourth at 15:38:42 and Rampart Rampage, captained by Milton Moses Jr., came in fifth in 15:45:11. Moses and his crew of Hank Sommer and Eileen Newman-Moore were slowed by motor trouble on the Tanana River near Manley on Sunday after they were second into Galena on Saturday with a first-day run of 6:37:30.
Moses only trailed Marks by nine minutes on Sunday morning during the stretch from Galena to Ruby along the Yukon River.
"We were side by side with them for a long way before we got to Manley,'' Marks said.
One of the most significant scratches Sunday was Page, who was hampered by a broken shaft and a broken lift between Tanana and Manley. The 70-year-old's boat was the second entry to start Saturday and he last won the race in 2004.
Other scratches Sunday were Captain, and Tom Huntington, who captained Union Pride/Miss Kay Kay. There were three scratches Saturday--Alberta Attla (Phat Albert), Gilbert Huntington (My Savior's Sliver) and Clinton Huntington (Shadows on the Koyukuk).
By DANNY MARTIN, Staff Writer
Arnold Marks Jr., named his boat Close Enough after a family moment.
A year ago, he was building his boat in Fairbanks and his sister-in-law, Margaret Moses, stood by and watched him construct the vessel he would use in the Doyon Yukon 800 Marathon.
"All I kept saying to her is 'close enough' and that's when we named it,'' said Marks, 23 and a three-time entrant from Tanana.
On Sunday afternoon, Close Enough won the 46th edition of the Yukon 800, finishing far ahead of the next closest boat, Tom Kriska's Miss Nay Nay Rose.
Marks and his crew of navigator Archie Beetus and engineer Dwayne Roberts compiled a total time of 12 hours, 54 minutes and 32 seconds in the out-and-back course from Fairbanks to Galena that runs along the Tanana and Yukon rivers.
Amid sunny conditions, Marks and his crew arrived at the Chena Pump Campground at 12:26 p.m. to the cheers about 300 spectators, including Tim Ned and Alan Ned, who waved a large sign with "Close Enough,'' on it.
The victory for Marks, who placed seventh last year and scratched in 2004, has some championship connections.
Marks is a half-brother of Milton Moses Jr., who drew the No. 1 starting position for this year's race and whose father, Milton Moses, won the event in 1969.
"We grew up watching this race and it's nice to get a chance to win,'' said Marks, whose other half-brother, Archie Agnes, has also competed in the Yukon 800.
Beetus and Roberts were the crew for last year's winner, Harold Attla, who has captured a race-record seven titles.
"It is pretty cool,'' Beetus said of being on the winning boat for the second straight year.
Attla didn't race this year because he wanted to focus on his remodeling business, where Marks and Beetus' father, Wilmer, also work.
Marks, a senior English major at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, praised his crew, who also lay down at the front of the boat to help balance it when it turned corners and reached speeds of more than 50 mph.
"They did a great job,'' Marks said. "It was really rough on the Yukon by Tanana, and this guy (Beetus) probably has got oatmeal for muscles on his back right now. We really pounded through (waves) and I tried to slow down for some of them, but Duane just kept telling me 'Gun it!''
Close Enough was the sixth riverboat to start the race Saturday morning in two-minute increments, but it was first into the halfway point at Galena, compiling a first-day total of 6:27:48. The boat and its occupants, though, had to survive some high waves on the Yukon before reaching Galena.
On Sunday, it overcame hitting a log on the river near Tanana.
Marks said he thought one of the toughest challenges of the race was withstanding driftwood Saturday on the Tanana River from the starting point at the campground to the checkpoint at Tanana.
"There was really a lot of driftwood,'' Marks said. "It was like driving through a minefield.''
Marks and his crew are scheduled to receive about $4,800 of a $12,000 purse. The payouts, said race coordinator Audrey Jones, will be presented to the race finishers during the Fairbanks Outboard Association's meeting at 6 Tuesday night in the Two Street Coffeehouse in the Co-op Building downtown.
"Just pay some bills,'' Marks said of his plans for the prize money.
Kriska, the race winner in 1996, finished second overall Sunday in 13:35:22, as he and his surprised crew of wife, Sherri, and daughter, Charlisa Folger, came in about 25 minutes behind Close Enough.
"No way!,'' were repeated reactions from Tom and Sherri after they arrived at the campground and learned their boat was in second place.
The reactions were understandable because Miss Nay Nay Rose left Galena Sunday later than the scheduled start of 6 a.m., after oil leaked into the fuel pump of the outboard motor.
"We started five minutes behind and we were the last ones out of there,'' Tom Kriska said.
Miss Nay Nay Rose passed two boats near Ruby on the Yukon River--Jen Jen, captained by five-time champion Bill Page, and Hughes Blues, captained by Hank Captain--and Kriska said no other boats were in sight on the way to Fairbanks. Mechanical problems later forced Page to scratch.
"Once we passed Bill, I said 'Well, we got third place,''' he said. " We just didn't see anybody else, and I thought we were going slow or something else because there's nobody around."
The Edge of Nowhere, captained by Tyler Huntington, left the starting line on Saturday morning in the ninth position among 11 boats. On Sunday afternoon, Huntington and crewmates Charlie Huntington and Josh Cadzow rose to a third-place finish of 14:54:04.
Five boats completed the race while the other six scratched.
A.J. Dick and his crew of Miss Ivory Jacks II placed fourth at 15:38:42 and Rampart Rampage, captained by Milton Moses Jr., came in fifth in 15:45:11. Moses and his crew of Hank Sommer and Eileen Newman-Moore were slowed by motor trouble on the Tanana River near Manley on Sunday after they were second into Galena on Saturday with a first-day run of 6:37:30.
Moses only trailed Marks by nine minutes on Sunday morning during the stretch from Galena to Ruby along the Yukon River.
"We were side by side with them for a long way before we got to Manley,'' Marks said.
One of the most significant scratches Sunday was Page, who was hampered by a broken shaft and a broken lift between Tanana and Manley. The 70-year-old's boat was the second entry to start Saturday and he last won the race in 2004.
Other scratches Sunday were Captain, and Tom Huntington, who captained Union Pride/Miss Kay Kay. There were three scratches Saturday--Alberta Attla (Phat Albert), Gilbert Huntington (My Savior's Sliver) and Clinton Huntington (Shadows on the Koyukuk).
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