The co-winners of the Spirit of the Equinox Award for 2025 are Stacy Fisk and Susan Schwartz. Below is the presentation for Stacy by John Estle.
Spirit of the Equinox Award Winner 2025
Stacy Fisk, one of two winners of the 2025 Spirit of the Equinox Award, has committed her life to running, and specifically to making the Fairbanks running community a better and more vibrant community.
Their commitment to the sport started early. At New Prairie High School in New Carlisle, IN, she won awards as both the Most Improved Runner and Most Valuable runner on her high school track and cross country teams and had top 10 conference finishes in both cross country and track. She also played a little hoops (Most Improved Player as a freshman)!
At Mars Hill College (now University) her success continued. She not only earned induction into the college’s Athletic Hall of Fame, but also to the South Atlantic Conference Athletic Hall of Fame.
After college, she coached track and cross country in the lower 48 at Mars Hill College and Catawba College. After getting married in 2009, she and her husband Rocky moved to Fairbanks in 2013. Upon arrival in Fairbanks she immediately immersed herself in the local running scene, coaching and working in local shops with running departments.
In March of 2020, just as COVID was hitting the fan, she made a big commitment to the sport and to local runners, starting up Frosty Feet a running goods shop. Needless to say, it was not an ideal time to start a business and the doors didn’t officially open until June of that year. Over the past five-plus years, however, Frosty Feet has become very popular with local runners, and with military personnel from Fort Wainwright and Eielson Air Force Base – building a bridge between the local running community and the running cohort of the military community.
As part of her business plan, she has served very successfully as Race Director of the Equinox Marathon for seven years, for both Gold Discovery Run and Santa Claus Half-Marathon for three years, and for Chena River Run for the past five years. Ten years ago she was instrumental in the creation of the HooDoo Half-Marathon which, in its first year, became the largest half-marathon in the Interior – a status it has retained ever since.
And it’s not all about competition either. They also organize the HooDoo beer runs and doughnut runs from their shop, among other all-comers non-competitive events.
When she isn’t running Frosty Feet, coaching or organizing races, she isn’t sitting around. Among her accomplishments are thru-hiking the entire length of the Appalachian Trail, biking the length of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and entering and completing several marathon and ultramarathon events, including Boston Marathon, Indiana Trail 100, Coeur d’Alene Ironman Triathlon, the Iditarod Trail Invitational 350 and multiple 50-milers.
When asked why she has adopted Fairbanks, she says “I like the small town feel – I’m not into big cities. I love the weather, the people, and the community. Rocky and I have made a ‘home’ here.”
In recognition of her dedication and commitment to the local running community, and her service to, and affection for, the Equinox Marathon, we present Stacy Fisk as one of two winners of this year’s Spirit of the Equinox Award.