Update: The Kuskowkim Ice Classic clock stopped at 4:02 p.m. on Friday. Winners will be announced soon.
Original story: The Kuskowkim Ice Classic tripod fell over on April 11, but the clock is still ticking. There’s a line tied to the tripod, and it has to be dragged about 150 feet before it trips the clock.
Michelle DeWitt is the executive director of Bethel Community Services Foundation, which puts on the Kuskokwim Ice Classic. The money from ticket sales goes to youth programs across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
On KYUK’s morning show, DeWitt said that this year has been crazy with the record-breaking warm temperatures in February and March.
"I don’t know if there’s ever been a year like this," DeWitt said.
BCSF is enforcing the early breakup rule now. That means guesses must be entered no later than the day before breakup occurs for the entries to be valid. DeWitt says that there’s another consequence from the warmer winter: Minute Madness tickets sold out last Friday in a record four hours. In past years, it took as long as five days to sell out.
BCSF is doing another round of Minute Madness April 12 at the Alaska Commercial Company store in Bethel. How it works is this: you buy a minute in the hour, not a specific minute in the day. The tickets cost $250, but DeWitt says that people like buying them because they have a 1-in-60 chance at winning.