Allen blitzed the run from Sourdough to Lake Louise and currently has the fastest time for that leg. There was a little overflow but nothing like the open water of the previous legs.
The temperature at Lake Louise was around -10 with a huge moon and a whisper of aurora. It is a beautiful part of the world.
As the BLACK team were staying only two hours Allen had a lot of chores to do in a little time. He did his arrival routine of snacking, strawing and de-bootying the dogs really efficiently. He then came up into the Lake Louise Lodge and gave Quito a run for her money with the amount he ate! Quito is known to eat many many snacks when she comes in to a checkpoint and Allen inhaled two cheeseburgers in record time. He then wanted a quick nap so asked for a wake-up call in TEN MINUTES! When Ray went to wake him Allen was fast asleep and he said that ten minutes really refreshed him! The exit routine of feeding, bootying and ensuring harnesses and lines were right happened very quickly and the team really looked focussed and ready for the push ahead as they left.
Allen is still running Scout and Quito in lead. Scout is generally the choice leader when Aliy and Allen want a more steady, controlled run so to have him still leading while doing these fast runs is really great to see. Allen sometimes changes leaders around depending on the run ahead but said there was no need to swap him out as he was doing a fantastic job up there and working well with Quito.
Aliy is currently on exactly the same rest schedule as Allen so she stayed in Lake Louise for two hours also. She said she was generally happy with the way her team is performing and sorry to drop a couple of dogs. As Ray and I were leave Aliy was ordering some food – she’s ready for the push ahead.
Meghan came into Sourdough really happy with the way her team is running. Ranger and Dingle are superstar leaders and the rest of the team are backing them up brilliantly. Meghan will enjoy the rest of this race as she has seen some of these trails before during the 2013 Sheep Mountain 300.
As it turns out, with the quick turnaround at Lake Louise, I clean forgot to take any photos. I’m sorry I have nothing to share with you right now.
the update is great! photos or not…the tracker is a bit aggravating so thank you for your bits!
No worries about the photos! You are doing an amazing job at describing the scene and what's going on! Congratulations!
Thanks for the update–you are doing a fantastic job. The teams are looking great.
It is wonderful to hear your "voice" (with the NZ touch as the word flow)and thanks so much!!!
A big woof,woof, woof to the 4-legged SPK athletes in your care!!!
–Margaret