When 14-year-old Epheem Kalmakoff reaches the top of Marathon Mountain and peers out over the thick Alaska fog, he is suddenly reminded of three stories he heard when he was five years old: one from his Aleut grandmother, one from the Russian Orthodox priest of Analaska Island, and one from the teacher in the Methodist home for orphaned boys. These three stories fill him with a sense of history, identity, and finally mission – the mission to win the race.

Note: Though this is historical fiction and the characters have been developed to accommodate a story, their attributes and development may be useful as reference points and inspirations.