ID: Wednesday Morning Update – Out of Tanana

Good morning!

Currently Aliy and the Red Team are on the trail towards Ruby having left Tanana at 10.17pm with all 17 athletes. Right now they are resting about half way with what looks like a whole bunch of other mushers. The run from Tanana to Ruby is reported as 119 miles so Aliy will have planned the stop rather than make the run in one go.

I watched the Insider video of her getting ready to leave Tanana and they were expecting -40F overnight. She was dressing the dogs as she and Allen did for the Yukon Quest with fleece jackets – and for those with a thinner coat (Waylon!!) both a wind jacket and fleece over the top. The males will be wearing the fox ruffs around their “personal areas” to avoid frost nip and Nelson is running in a neck gaiter to protect the rub he received on his neck in the YQ300. The rub itself healed well but she doesn’t want to take a chance if nipping it at these temperatures so he’s running in a bright purple gaiter!

Waylon get dressing in Tanana; the team howls as they ready to leave (screen pics from Insider video)

Aliy is wearing her cold weather mushing gear with wind protection over the top. This is the white jacket and pants you will see her in. This suit serves two purposes: keeping the wind out and keeping the warmth in.

According to the tracker the Black Team are on the move from Tanana having taken what looks to be about an eight hour rest. At the time of writing I am unsure how many of the team left Tanana with him. In the Iditarod, teams do not have to check out with an official so leaving times and dog numbers are not always captured. We’ll catch up with that once the team checks in at the next checkpoint or, if a dog has been dropped, once we are notified. The volunteers and officials do the best they can to record the leaving information but sometimes, because the teams can leave whenever they want (expect on mandatory stops, which must be timed), it’s not always possible.