It’s midnight Monday night.
RED TEAM UPDATE
At 8.43pm this evening, Aliy and the Red Team pulled in to Koyuk checkpoint in eighth position. They will have a good rest here.
There is a whole series of incredible pictures from Jeff Schultz on the Iditarod website showing the Red Team coming in to Koyuk checkpoint just as the sun was setting this evening. Check them out here!
Spark has been promoted to leader now, he is running with his older brother Dutch. The two blue eyed girls: Junior and Amber in swing, Iron and Mismo, Izzy and Driver, Commando and Felix, and Rodney and Schmoe in wheel. You can see she is really mixing the team around to keep it fresh for them.
I don’t know about you, but the Insider video of Aliy in Shaktoolik sure made us smile, laugh and then cry. She said she wouldn’t trade her team for the world, despite not being where she might have wanted to be in the race. The love that Aliy and Allen feel for their dogs always rises above everything. I know a lot of you have also been touched by that video, it really is special.
BLACK TEAM UPDATE
Just a couple hours later, at 11.15pm, Allen and the Black Team pulled in to Unalakleet. They stopped for about four hours hours at Old Woman cabin with a bunch of other teams and it looks like they will rest a wee while here also.
Just as I was lamenting that we never see pictures of the teams further back, Jeff Schultz has published two great pics of the Black Team leaving Kaltag. Check them out here. We have poured over the photos to see who might be missing but we’re not 100% sure so will wait until it is confirmed.
In the meantime, we have been enjoying a few blue sky days in Nome. During Iditarod week there are many and varied events on in town. Today a few of us went to a National Park Service lecture about musk ox – there are two herds that live just outside Nome so later we went out looking for them. We may have spotted them on the hills below the wind turbines, but then again they may have been rocks. We’re not certain.
We visited the craft fair with local artists sharing their work with us. Our first visit was just for reconnisance, we will visit again later on in the week for sure! You can find out what else is on this week here.
Another important event happened today: the assembly of the finishing chute on Front Street.
Here are a few pictures from around the area today.
Searching for musk ox
One of the many gold dredges in the area
I don’t think this picture needs a caption
Nome-Teller Highway
"Insider video of Aliy in Shaktoolik sure made us smile, laugh and then cry. "
It sure did. Most of all because it appears that Aliy is managing to enjoy herself during this race. That, in itself, is an amazing accomplishment!!!!
My hope was that Aliy would compete with her amazing pups and enjoy the race…. landing potentially in the top ten, what a bonus! Even if Aliy didn't finish I would be so proud of her for making it through the portion of the race that she has already competed. I'm proud already. 🙂
You at SPK spoil us with your coverage, but we have been spoiled by the Id In team too. They always focus on the top contenders, and Aliy has been right up there for six years. That is amazing and rare. Other teams are accustomed to not being in the spotlight in videos. But if you search, you can find something.
I'm always looking for Aliy and Allen.
🙂
I just want to say Aliy , Allen , the doggies and all the SPK crew are wonderful and as they head for the last sections of the Iditarod you can't help feel nothing but pride enjoy the last part of the journey 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❤️🖤🐾🐾😘. Denali and Joanne 🇦🇺
I just watch the insider video of Aliy. Certainly made me smile. What an incredible women! strong, kind and a awesome mushers. It is people like Aliy that have me so addicted to this great race. Thank you!! Happy trails!! Woof woof
Might just be the best video ever. Pure love…..pure Aliy!
WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!
Front Street here we come!!!
Thanks so very much for keeping up the amazing coverage for us sll, as others have said, you are the best!!!
Most sincerely,
Margaret
Looks like you all are enjoying the sights of Nome….I especially love the search for musk ox part!! I'm glad they will once again have the Nome live feed going so we can see every team finish regardless of placement!
Yes, that video in Shak was priceless….bet that little girl will never forget having Aliy to pal around with…too cool! I'm still amazed no wind!!
AWESOME pictures…that Jeff Schultz really knows how to get the lighting right! Wow!! Yeah, saw the pics of the Black Team and that made me happy….but still a tough call on who is there. The waiting is hard…especially for you folks!! Allen is doing great having still 15 on the line!
Glad the advance team is keeping occupied and finding distractions in Nome. Watching the tracker sure is addicting but you definitely need to take a break from it since they still haven't discovered a way to telepathically send support via computer screen. It's always great to find photos and videos of Aliy and Allen both of them are generous with media and fans when no doubt they'd love to get back to feeding dogs, changing booties, or perhaps getting themselves something to eat. As always very proud of both of them and all the dogs that are carrying them down the trail to Nome. Go Red! Go Black!
I have been watching the last half of this race with the worst internet connection EVER in Colorado on a vacation/property hunting trip. Promised myself when I move, there will be a booster in my house so I can watch Aliy's WIN next year.
The video was the a great depiction of the Aliy I met last year. Personable and outright having fun. As always with her and Allen, the dogs came first. Period. That's one of the main reasons I love them both so much. Sure, we wanted a win, but we want happy, healthy humans and doggies more!
Go Teams Go…almost there!
Huzzah!!!! To SP Kennels and the BLACK & RED; DOGS,MUSHER,harness & sled!!!!
Not only do "the people of Shaktoolik rock" as Red Team Leader tells the camera and her young fans, but she wants to fonish on a positive note.
I recommend this song:
LET'S GET LOUD!!!
Go Red Team!!!
Go Black Team!!!
I too love the Iditarod Insider of Aliy and the dogs. We love you in all your many roles and emotions, totally, completely and unconditionally. You are at all times, awe inspiring. (I know we will be watching the live finish here in Littleton, Dawn; if I could patch you in, I would)
Good news for Dawn – my money is on SP Kennel Crew doing video that will be better than the live broadcast – and it will be online in perpetuity on the SPK website!!!
WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!
–Margaret
The video of Aliy in Shaktoolik was superb – how does she remain so calm and real with a camera capturing everything she says – amazing. I loved watching Commando eat – the close up of his face – he has become quite the "man" and looks so grown up.
Strange race regarding travel times. I took a screen shot and posted it on my blog of what the portage trail looked like as Aliy was nearing Unalakleet Stacked Like Pancakes. The mild weather and flat trail encouraged tight running of teams all the way to the coast. It looks more like the tracker image from Willow to Yentna and Skwentna than 700 miles into the Iditarod.
I think she has been running a fantastic race frankly. I have always thought of this year as another rebuilding year as we see seasoned dogs continue to step down to be replaced by youngsters. Even so, Allen came in 3rd in the YQ and Aliy is in the top 10 with this batch. How great is that for transitional years?
I did wonder what happened on the Portage trail – until the end, her times were posting slower than those following her and then suddenly she had a burst of speed at the end. Ah – the stories that tracker can't really reveal.