Each group portrait follows the same pattern: two rows of middle-aged runners, big smiles, matching race shirts and the Yukon River as a backdrop.<\/p>\n
With a closer look, one can start to pick out some of the same faces, too. That\u2019s because all of them feature one or more Metcalfe siblings. For 26 years, some combination of the Metcalfe family \u2014 nine Juneau-raised siblings aged between 54-69 \u2014 have run the 110-mile Klondike Trail of \u201898 International Road Relay.<\/p>\n
Kim, the second eldest, has run in 23 just on her own and has scrapbooks worth of photos, old newspaper articles and results to prove it.<\/p>\n
The team that most commonly goes by \u201cMetcalfes and Friends\u201d will be running in their 27th Klondike this weekend. There have been as many as eight Metcalfes on the same team at one time together and as few as one.<\/p>\n
The relay begins this evening in Skagway, crosses the U.S.-Canada Border and White Pass and finishes on Saturday in the Yukon capital of Whitehorse. Each team member is assigned a leg of the course that ranges between six and 16 miles in distance. Much of the running is done in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a way that we get together and it\u2019s kinda the one yearly thing that we do since at least \u201890,\u201d Jake Metcalfe said, Kim\u2019s younger brother.<\/p>\n
More than the Fourth of July, the September relay race has been the reliable annual event that convenes the family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably the best thing you can do as a family together,\u201d Peter Metcalfe of Juneau said. \u201cI mean, there\u2019s no discouragement at all because the consequence of someone not finishing a leg is you have to jump out and finish it for them. So the moment that becomes a possibility there\u2019s great anxiety in the support van.\u201d<\/p>\n
There have been years when that\u2019s happened, too. There have also been years when the team boards the ferry to Skagway with a shorthanded team.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing that we\u2019ve done a lot is leave without a full team over the years because we couldn\u2019t find somebody,\u201d Kim Metcalfe said. \u201cOne year, we left (Juneau) with only seven people, and we\u2019re thinking, \u2018We\u2019re not in that great of shape to run more than one leg each.\u2019 And we picked up three guys along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The clan \u2014 now spread out between Juneau, Anchorage and the Lower 48 \u2014 has recently begun inviting the next generation on to the team as well. They have a growing pool of family members to choose from, too. This year, Jake Metcalfe has brought aboard his college-aged son, Bien.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for me to see the family but also see all kinds of people from Juneau who participate, so I connect with old friends, and then it\u2019s just a blast,\u201d Jake said.<\/p>\n
Unlike some of the younger participants, the senior Metcalfes have to take training for the race seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last couple years I\u2019ve overtrained and I was pretty well recovered within a half-hour or so. I wasn\u2019t in misery like I have been in the past,\u201d Peter Metcalfe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll test your theory this year,\u201d brother Jake said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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