The Finnish Line

As a child enthralled by her now deceased father's stories about his exploits as a champion dogsled racer, Anya Kivela, based in Juneau, has followed in his footsteps to become a champion herself. The story that still haunts her is his last race culminating on a Christmas Eve before her parents even met in his hometown of Rovaniemi, Finland, the purported home of Santa Claus, a race that he lost to upstart Monty White in dirty tactics. That loss led to his early retirement from the sport and which unfortunately has remained his legacy. She has never competed in that race, Joulurauha, nor has ever traveled to Finland or thus met most of her Finnish relations, that is until now on the fortieth anniversary of the event itself and the thirtieth anniversary of that fateful race, this moment which she has worked toward her entire career. Why this event is so momentous is that she will be racing against Monty for the first time, the two who have never even met, bad blood which emerges on that first meeting. The pressure she faces in needing to beat at least Monty but better yet win is only exacerbated by her meeting Cole Olson, a former dogsledder himself turned journalist, such professionals of who she is suspect in they largely why her father's legacy is solely that race and not the multitude of his accomplishments in the sport.