UP, UP AND AWAY-Darren Schweinefus and Steve Daly kite-ski on the Chilkat River near 4 Mile Haines Highway during strong winds last week. The sport has been picking up popularity in recent winters, with kites seen frequently south of the airport. Andy Hedden photo. (2009)

January 13, 1969

Once again the Alaska Music Trail and the Lynn Canal Community Players join in presenting another “first” to a Haines audience, this time a dance concert of unusual quality and interest. The artists are Shala and Raja. The dance is Kathak from India. The date is February 1. The place: the Chilkat Center.

Shala and Raja are leading exponents of the classic dance style from the temples and courts of Northern India, known as Kathak. Their early training took place in Bombay with Lacchu Maharaj, the oldest living member of the famous Maharaj family of Kathak masters.

[The pair] have performed in all of the All-India Music, and Dance Festivals and at the Calcutta Festival were awarded medals for being “The Most Outstanding Artists.” In New Delhi, they twice performed for the late Prime Minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri.

January 20, 1994

Racers in the 25th annual Alcan 200 will jet into the cold, white expanse Saturday morning, an machines bigger and faster than race founders ever imagined.

About 40 to 50 entrants, including several women, are expected for the silver anniversary event that begins at Canada Customs 10 a.m. Alaska time, said Chilkat Snowburner president Mike Ward.

Most serious competitors in the all-out road race will be on snowmachines twice the size if those that ran in 1970, when a group of friends got together to race from 10 Mile around Dezadeash Lake and back.

All the machines running the first year were cooled by fans or free-air and most were backyard runners. “Most of them were something you’d ride and play around on. You could ride any machine,” recalled the late Midge Clayton in a 1989 interview.

Steve Daly lifts off the surface of the snow on the Chilkat River near 4 Mile Haines Highway during strong winds last week. The sport has been picking up popularity in recent winters, with kites seen frequently south of the airport. Andy Hedden photo. (2009)

But as interest expanded, competition got tougher. Prize money grew, racers beefed up their improved machines (most are now liquid-cooled) and the winning speed went from 75 to more than 100 mph. What once was a local event this year is drawing racers from Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, the Yukon and other parts of Canada. Defending champion John Brown, a five-time winner, hails from Smithers, B.C.

For the silver anniversary race, a 100-ounce bar of silver is being raffled, along with $5,000 cash. Oval races will be held at the state fairgrounds, as a new turn in the Klehini River washed out half the oval track ant 25 Mile.

The long history of the race is surprising even to those who have helped organize it. Director Pete Lapham calls the event the last official snowmachine road race on the continent. “I don’t think anybody expected it to last that long. I’d guess it’s one of the older, if not the oldest races in Canada or the U.S.”

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