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FAIRBANKS — The Equinox Marathon is inching back up in participation toward the “hiker’s heyday” of the late 1960s, when on three occasions more than 1,000 people registered for Fairbanks’ fall classic.

While the 46th edition of the race, scheduled for Saturday, will surely fall short of four digits, about 800 people had signed up as of Tuesday evening. This year’s turnout is on pace to eclipse the 825 registrants of a year ago, which would make it the biggest race since the early 1970s.

“It’s about all I can do to keep up,” race director Steve Bainbridge said.

Added race official John Estle: “It’s ahead of last year, and last year was one of the biggest ever for participation. If things keep moving this way, perhaps we will break the 1,000 mark at some point.”

These days, a handful of hikers still walk all the way from the Patty Center up Ester Dome and back, but they’re a far cry from the 900 hikers who started the 1969 edition, a group that dwarfed the 260 runners.

The demographic most responsible for today’s increase, however, is the relay runners.

So far 104 relay teams are signed up, already more than last year’s record 89 teams (which demolished the previous high of 64 three-person teams).

Seems like the unseasonably rainy summer wasn’t a deterrent for potential Equinox runners, or perhaps the recent nicer weather salvaged some training programs.

Either way, the second bib pickup and spaghetti feed will be from 5-8 p.m. Friday at the Pump House Restaurant. This will be the last opportunity for relay teams to register.

The cost of registration at the bib pickup is $50, which will increase to $60 for individuals on race day.

Through Thursday, participants can drop off entry forms at Beaver Sports or Equinox Orthopedic Physical Therapy for $45. Online registration is also still available at www.active.com.

Decur to start

Though Jim Decur holds five Equinox single-year age records, he plans to walk just a couple of miles Saturday, and he couldn’t be happier about it.

Just five weeks ago, the Denali Park resident suffered a broken neck while biking after he collided with a bus at the entrance to Denali Park Road.

On Tuesday, he was cleared by an Anchorage doctor to visit Fairbanks and then return home.

“As long as I can get up there for the spaghetti feed on Friday night, I’m a happy boy,” said Decur, who plans to fly to Fairbanks Friday morning. “I’ll be at the Equinox start on Saturday morning. I probably won’t get too far ... maybe Ballaine Lake.”

Decur, 60, was in a buoyant mood when contacted in Anchorage on Monday.

“I’m doin’ great. I’m pretty much all back to normal, I think, except for my neck and this dang collar I gotta wear for four to eight weeks,” he said.

Decur said he was fortunate his injuries weren’t more severe, but he conceded that not running the Equinox will be difficult.

“It’s going to be a big disappointment not being able to run, but that’s the way life is,” Decur said. “The bottom line is I’ll run again ... and I’ll do the Equinox next year.”

Wickwire denied

The Equinox was just not meant to be for Tom Wickwire this year.

Wickwire has run almost every Equinox since 1975 and along with Bad Bob Baker and Corky Hebard has more Equinox patches than anyone. But his plans to run this year were thwarted when a favorite niece in Florida announced she would be getting married on Saturday.

Wickwire wanted to at least keep part of the ritual by running the course beginning at 8 a.m. last Saturday morning, but disaster struck 9 1/2 miles in. That’s when he let his new dog off its leash and it bolted.

More than 2 1/2 hours later, he finally recovered the dog, but was too exhausted to contemplate continuing the Equinox that day and too busy to try it another day.

“That’s going to have to do it for this year,” Wickwire said Monday.

Wickwire supposes he’ll start another Equinox streak in 2009.

“I did tell Bob Baker that he’s got me now. I think we were tied,” Wickwire said. “Corky’s got more patches, but he walked a few of them.”

Baker showed little sympathy when contacted Monday, saying he hoped Wickwire wouldn’t change his mind about the wedding trip.

“I still have to finish. I’ll celebrate one up on Wickwire when I finish,” he said.

Baker, who’s done the Equinox since he was a teenager, knows finishing is no guarantee. One year he dropped out on Ester Dome due to illness, and on Sept. 7 he had to drop out of the Ironman Wisconsin triathlon because he was vomiting early during the marathon run.

Thirteen days of recovery between the Ironman and the Equinox is plenty, Baker said, adding that six days — the time between the two events some years — is a “little tough.”

Andi Hutten, 48, of Nenana completed Ironman Wisconsin in 12 hours, 45 minutes and 45 seconds and is signed up for the Equinox.

“As long as I beat Andi, I’ll be happy,” Baker said.

Tsigonis clan

The Tsigonis family is signed up again for the Equinox, but this year they won’t attempt to do it together.

That was the intention in 2007, until then-10-year-old Noah put a wrench in those plans.

“Last year, we were all going to walk, and then he took off (right near the start). We had brought backpacks and were going to be doing it as a day trip,” Noah’s mother, Jean, said Tuesday.

So this time around, Jean, who first hiked the Equinox in the late 1960s as a high schooler, will run with the Team in Training group that is raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Husband Robert and kids Abigail, 18, Rebekah, 15, and Noah (possibly the youngest again at age 11) will also participate, but not necessarily together.

“(Noah’s) kind of my non-athlete of all of them. He gave up milkshakes and chocolate milk this week, but that doesn’t mean no ice cream,” Jean said. “That’s his training.”

Daughter Liz, meanwhile, is recovering from surgery after blowing out her knee “chasing one of our cows,” but that won’t keep her off the course, Jean said.

“She’s not signed up, but she’s going to walk in the beginning,” Jean said.