Both Aliy and Michelle Phillips have gone in and out of Stepping Stone hospitality stop within one minute of each other. We have no fingernails left and are eagerly awaiting word…
Ryne and the R&Bs left Carmacks at 10.59am this morning with ten dogs, no word as yet who got to enjoy the truck ride with Kristina from there – we’ll update you as soon as we know. They’ve been on the trail for nearly nine hours at this stage.
In the meantime, Allen and the Black team are nearly into Scroggie Creek dog drop – 99 miles from Dawson. As the whole run from Pelly Crossing to Dawson is 201 miles the team will stop to camp along the trail so Allen packed his sled full of food and equipment to ensure everyone is happy and healthy along the way.
Go teams!
Can't wait to hear Aliy's stories of this race.
It is a close and FUN competition those two ladies are having.
I have been thinking about Neff's runs this year and it reminded me of Dallas Seavey's tactic of faster, longer runs, offset by longer rests. I am not sure it is intentional, but it would be interesting to find out later.
As Allen said, his approach is to maintain steady runs to keep their strength through the very rigorous climb at the end at Eagle Summit and then Rosebud. Right now, it looks like he is on the brake to keep the dogs from going down into Scroogie too fast.
I am fascinated by these folks and what they do and why they do it.
First of all, thanks so much for the updates. Like all the rest of the fans I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to see who prevails in the head-to-head YQ300 battle. Go Aliy! Go red team.
Just a minor thing, and I hesitate to say it because the posts are so great, but Moira with her southern hemisphere roots, no doubt aided by Canadian highway signs while endlessly riding checkpoint to checkpoint with Ray, mixed up km and miles in this post. So although Allen has quite a distance yet to Dawson City, it's thankfully not 323 miles. If my fuzzy math recollection is correct, 323km ought to be about the 200 miles the trail map lists for distance between Pelly-Dawson.
Now's the time to turn the DogLog international – post in both measurements – I know SPK has fans worldwide…
Thankful for updates – cheers to the handlers and I hope you get a bit of rest before making the best darn dog camp in Dawson City.
Good catch Lisa B… Poor Moira!… Upside down, backwards and exhausted!… What's a girl to do!… I'm always in awe of the dogs and the mushers, but this year I'm especially in awe of the handlers, webster, drivers and fans!
Yes, THANKS Lisa, I have updated the text so as not to alarm people too much!