From the Ski for Light Bulletin - Spring 2014
by Joan Holcombe
It was a sight many Ski for Lighters are happy not to have beheld: a collection of male specimens, claim them or not - of varying body type and all of great heart - braving the chill of an Anchorage winter and a throng of Iditarod hooligans to streak down the main street of Anchorage chased by horned wild beasts and wearing far less than any sane person would choose to don when venturing out onto an Alaskan thoroughfare in bitterest winter.
These brave, semi-nude chumps participated in Anchorage's answer to Pamplona's running of the bulls - the Running of the Reindeer, an event marked by long tradition that takes place each year after the ceremonial start of the Iditarod, itself a wonderful spectacle.
Our scantily clad horde ran before the well-racked herd of a dozen or so critters as they plodded along the snow-covered streets (by snowplow and shovel, that is, due to a skimpy donation from Mother Nature).
These warm souls - and their freezing soles - did not undertake this challenge out of simple pride or vanity. No, along with those standard attributes, add in more than a healthy dose of altruism: they raised $2,015 for Ski for Light (thanks to the final 10 cents donated by our very own Nino Pacini), to help toward future stipends and event costs to benefit all of us when we gather in Colorado next year for the 40th Annual Ski for Light International.
How dared they, you ask? Well, that is a story and a half! It all began with a few normally proper SFL men ogling over the racy brochure advertising this most racy event - complete with a well-buffed group clad in their speedos, throwing down a challenge! With only a bare hesitation, one of the oglers, Bob Civiak by name, confidently announced (assuming it would never happen) that if SFL could raise $2,000 he would run in his very own Speedo (or something comparable). Well, give Nancy Dunn and Joan Holcombe a challenge like that (especially under the influences of an adult beverage or two, plus the after-glow from a day on the trails at Kincaid Park), and we were off. After four days of announcements, pleadings, cavorting, begging, and storming the dining hall for cash of any kind, our team was assembled: nine go-to guys in the final draft equipped majestically in their varied garb, ready to run before thousands of spectators, and taking their lives in their drawers. It was a proud moment - one of much good cheer and many smiles for all. Thanks to all who supported them (and SFL)! Let us savor the memory... or shed it if you must!