While Allen was on his final leg of the Yukon Quest, Aliy was at home turning in the Iditarod Drop Bags for both teams.
We had mostly completed the bags prior to the Quest but we needed to bring home the dog jackets, fleece blankets and gloves etc from the first half of the Quest to send ahead for the Iditarod.
Once again, it took a small village to complete these bags and we sincerely thank everyone that helped us!
Our special thanks to the Earle Family: Brian, Tami, Madi and Mykena for the use of their trailer and man/woman power to load, unload and stack the bags in Fairbanks. Thanks team, we really appreciate your help!!
These bags went by road down to Anchorage then will get flown into the Iditarod checkpoints by the ‘Iditarod Airforce’ where they will be waiting for our mushers as they move through the trail.
Thanks Team!
Mykena and Madi stack the pallets
Tami wraps the pallet
This year food drops were partly subsidised by the Iditarod and we pay for the rest. We are required to ship out 1,100 pounds (50 pounds of dog food and supplies to every checkpoint) then we send out as much extra as we need out in bags weighing up to 50 pounds. This year we shipped 1,771 pounds for Aliy and 1,692 pounds for Allen, including supplies sent to Nome that mostly went in Aliy’s name.
Wow! Quite the project; congrats to all.
Yep these friends Rocked IT! Ya got'er done… Loved working with the Earle's they are fun and super nice!
now off to the race soon enuf.
Thanks Aliy for the updates and videos of what it takes to be a terrific dog racing kennel.
Padee
Fairbanks
The logistics in all of this is impressive, X number of mushers needing to get X number of bags at X number of checkpoints is huge. Kudos to the organizers of the race and to those work hard at SPK to get this all done.
Wow!!!
Now that was a project!!!
Thanks so much for sharing!!!
Best,
Margaret
Wow…that's some poundage for sure!! The logistics are amazing to pull off a race like this! Thanks to all the volunteers….to us fans it looks so seamless….but in reality it takes a lot of stitches to make it all happen smoothly! I'm getting SO excited!!
Hats off to the volunteers!! Those drop bags are laden down with love and well wishes too!!
I've been talking about the logistics of the race on my own blog and it is really staggering. Figure this times 86 teams currently signed up. Yikes! Yes, helpers are worth more than gold and all those volunteers at every level make it possible. Thanks for showing us how it is on the inside! And I add my thanks to those who help keep SPK running down the trails!
Thank you to the Earle family! Thank you from a big SP Kennel fan. The logistics are staggering, as Gaye said. Hats off to volunteers – as Nessmuk said! Hats off! I've volunteered for many races and it's a ton of fun but it's also a time and energy commitment that not many people can do. It takes a village to raise a child and it takes – at least – a village to get a dog team to a big race. Just the food drops entail a huge amount of people, power, and drive. My gratitude to all who help SP Kennel. The clock is ticking and I can't wait to watch how it all plays out. Good luck and god speed to everyone.
Awesome teamwork, thanks guys!
Hope everything gets to where it needs to be.
🙂
eeeeeeeee
Dittos to above comments. What a gigantic undertaking, as Gaye multiply by 86 teams, then getting it all to proper checkpoints. Thanks to Earle's for great volunteering. Well done to all. Race starts a week from tomorrow. Go SPK.