If midnight golf is your summer game, then Fairbanks has three courses that need your attention. There are also midnight baseball and midnight running.
In the winter, basketball and hockey are big indoors. Mushing and snowmobiling lure many people outdoors.
Baseball
Baseball fans can watch the semipro Alaska Baseball League teams Fairbanks Goldpanners and Athletes in Action. The Goldpanners are the 2002 state and national champions.
The Goldpanners' and AIA's rosters include college players from Lower 48 colleges (slugger Barry Bonds once played for the Panners), and both teams play at Growden Memorial Park in Fairbanks. The Panners have won the national title five times.
Other teams in the league are from Palmer, Anchorage and Kenai.
The popular Midnight Sun Baseball Game begins at 10:30 p.m. on the longest day, when the sun sets at 11:48 p.m. and rises from a bright twilight about 2 hours later.
Golf
Midnight golf (or daytime golf, for that matter) can be played at Fairbanks Golf and Country Club, 9 holes, on Farmers Loop Road; Chena Bend Golf Course, 18 holes, on Fort Wainwright; and North Star Golf Club, 18 holes, on the Old Steese Highway. All three courses are open to the public. There's also a miniature golf course at Pioneer Park as well as Glow Putt Alaska.
Running
Runners look forward to the Midnight Sun Run, a 10-kilometer race that starts at 10 p.m. on a June Saturday, and to the Equinox Marathon, near the fall equinox. Information: 907-452-8351.
Boat races
Boat races are popular in Fairbanks and elsewhere in the Interior. Watch for late June's Yukon 800 Boat Race, which runs from Fairbanks to Galena and back on the Chena, Tanana and Yukon rivers.
Winter sports
In the winter, hockey fans can watch the UAF Nanooks. College basketball fans turn out for the Top of the World Classic in mid-November. The Fairbanks Curling Club also attracts fans to its bonspiels.
Snowmachines: The Interior is snowmachine country. From an airplane or the train, visitors can see tracks embroidered all over the landscape. In late February, Fairbanks is the finish for the 2,000-mile Iron Dog race. The race starts in Wasilla, near Anchorage, then follows the Iditarod trail to Nome and then moves eastward to Fairbanks.
Mushing: Winter's big moment comes in February with the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, which runs a thousand harsh miles between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.
The sprint mushing season culminates with Fairbanks' Open North American Championship in March. See dogs race at the Alaska Dog Mushers' Association site at Mile 4 of Farmers Loop Road.
