It’s nearly 2am Alaska time.
Watching a recent Iditarod Insider video of the Red Team coming in to Takotna we were pleased to see the team still looking fantastic! They were alert and happy (except when the siren went off to announce their arrival – I don’t think Biscuit had ever heard such a thing!) When asked how everyone was doing she replied that she could do with some Ibuprofen herself but the dogs are good. The nearby vet, there to check out the canine team members, jokingly suggested Rimadyl!
Aliy has “declared” her mandatory 24 hour stop. Her stop will actually be 26 hours taking in to account the time differential from the re-start in Willow. How that works is the musher that left the staring chute last has to stop for 24 hours and for each bib number before that, two minutes is added to the time of the musher. Sonny Lindner (wearing bib 70) will have to stop for 24 hours; Aliy wearing bib 10 will stop for 120 extra minutes.
If she stays her full time (mushers can declare their stop but change their mind and stay 24 hours elsewhere) we can expect her to leave Takotna at 9.06pm tomorrow evening, Alaska time, and mush into the night.
In the meantime, Allen and his team left Nikolai and are almost to McGrath. I’ve been waiting for a number of hours for the current standings to update so we know how many team mates Allen has with him but that hasn’t happened so I’m assuming some sort of comms failure out there. I guess we will catch up with that information when the team arrives in McGrath.
As we haven’t seen any pictures or video of the Black Team out on the trail I thought you might like to meet all the sweet faces of the team in this video taken on Sunday.
Music: Acoustic Sunrise by Apple Inc.
Thanks so much for the explanation of how the time readjustments are made!!!
–Margaret
P.S. "Woof, woof, woof"
P.P.S. Good resting "Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" to all the members of both teams!!!
Kudos to Allen! He is so talented and dedicated!!!!
You and all of us fans, are looking forward to hear his stories of the trail!
Thank you for the great video! It is so nice to look at those beautiful, sweet dogs! I could see how the young pups were so excited to be there for the Great Adventure !!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you ☺️
Just waking up here back in CT…awesome two videos of Aliy and the Red Team!!!
Beautiful crew, Allen. They look strong and they look happy. Thanks to you and Aliy for keeping your animals not just physically sound but mentally healthy as well. Godspeed!
Aliy and the team looked great on the insider video and I'm glad they have a nice 24 hr rest so they can tear up the trail when they're done. Go Red Team! Thanks for the posts and updates.
Watched it…4 times already! Great video – lends new meaning to "up close and personal!!!"
The veterans are cool, and the new doggies aren't sure quite which way to turn, or as Outlaw is doing, trying soooo very hard to be cool and be like Uncle Dingle – a macho sled dog!!!
Woof, woof, woof!!!
–Margaret
Aw, thank you!
Great up close meeting with the Black team.
…I was thinking about Aliy and wondering if she thought to pack Ibuprofen. That might go in a Nikolai or Takotna drop bag in the future, just in case the trails are so challenging again.
Hopefully the Red team including Aliy are resting well.
Thank you for posting something. I lays look forward to checking in on SPK. I hope Aliy is able to rest up after the rough ride.
Happy dogs and great pickin'! SP Kennel has it all!
Some times Tugboat looks so much like Cutter. She is quiet, but pretty nonetheless.
Cutter pestered me like crazy yesterday – pretty much every time I fodused on the race and I wondered if Tug or Boris were one of the dogs dropped.
He was so overtly happy to have his humans home on Sunday night. The dobermans are also because they really want to be right next to their people as part of the protection breeding, yet roll with change more easily. They have seen us come and go more often.
Still Cutter's devotion runs very deep; his love for us almost seeps out his pores.
I love that Black Team! A great mix of seasoned and new racing sled dogs!! I'm beginning to learn who is who by the videos and pictures through the year. Thank you SPK!
Great up close & personal view of Black Team. What great looking dogs.
Go SPK.