ID: Thursday Morning Update – Galena and Ruby

Aliy and the Red Team pulled into Galena at 5.54am Thursday. She’s still running with all 16 of her team mates and they are moving at a pretty good clip.

The Insider video showed them coming in to the checkpoint with Waylon and Scout in lead, Nacho and Scooter in swing, followed by Scruggs and Izzy, Quito and Chica, Mac and Outlaw, Mismo and Nelson, Sissy and Schmoe, then Clyde and Willie in wheel. They’re all still dressed in fleece coats so it must be still very cold out on the river.

In a video she was talking about camping at Bible Camp (between Tanana and Ruby) and how she had to put Quito in lead to find her way out of the checkpoint as there were lots of confusing snow machine trails. Seems Quito got loose, went on a reconnaissance mission and found the exit trail. One smart dog!

Now is when the race becomes interesting and a little confusing in that you can’t take the current standings at face value. Teams must complete a 24 hour mandatory break at any checkpoint along the route and an eight hour stop at any checkpoint from Tanana to Kaltag. Mushers are starting to take their mandatory 24 hour stops and some have already taken their eight. Teams leap frog each other in the official standings so this is where the green ticks, showing the completion of their rests, become a good indicator of where each musher is in the standings.

The 24 hour layover is also the time where the difference in starting position is equalised. Teams started two minutes apart and the team that started in bib 79 takes 24 hours. Teams that started earlier than that add two minutes to their rest break for each bib lower than 79. If my math is correct Aliy will take 25 hours 34 mins and Allen 24 hours 44 mins (disclaimer: I count on my fingers so this could be incorrect).

At this point we’re not sure when either of them will take their 24 but I notice some mushers have “declared” theirs, so the leader board will look different for the next few days.

Teams also take a mandatory eight hour break at White Mountain but by then the playing field is levelled and the current standings are a true reflection of who is in which position.

The Black Team has arrived in Ruby after camping what looks to me like twice along the trail for about 4-5 hours each. Allen split the 116 mile run into three in order to give the youngsters more rest along the way. Once Allen’s eight Iditarod rookies (Kodiak, Junior, Dutch, Commando, Driver, Chipper, Pepe and Sandy) hit the 300 mile mark they will be like Samwise in Lord of the Rings when he and Frodo leave the Shire. Sam stops in the middle of the field because it was the furtherest he’d been from home. It is all new territory for them so it’s important for Allen right now to keep them excited and happy about continuing.

As we don’t get to see much from the middle of the pack, here is a picture from the Black Team’s final training run on Sunday – just so you don’t forget what they look like.