The teams have arrived safely to Glennallen!
It was a non-eventful drive down, which is exactly what you want with such precious cargo on board. Aliy snapped these two pics of sunrise near Paxson.
First stop was to hand over the drop bags to the volunteers for distribution to the checkpoints in time for the teams to arrive. Inside the drop bags is packs of kibble and meat snacks for the dogs, booties, leggings and jackets, vet supplies, human food and extra contingency clothes plus HEET, the fuel used in the cookers to melt snow to make water for meals (both canine and human!).
Next stop was to check in the mushers and every dog got a veterinarian check to determine they were fit for racing this weekend. Rabies and vaccination paperwork was checked and the vets did a hands on exam from tip to tail.
After the Meet the Mushers community event the teams went into the Musher/Handler meeting where everyone got to hear about the trail conditions and logistics plans for the start line tomorrow. At this stage the many river crossings appear to be okay with not much overflow reported as yet, but it is the Copper Basin 300 and anything can happen! Check out the CB300 website for more details about the race route.
Then came the bib draw. Allen is really happy to be heading out at 10:08am wearing bib #5 and Aliy soon after at 10:24am wearing #13.
The dogs will get one last walk and toilet break tonight, get pre-race massage and foot ointment applied before getting a good night’s rest. Mushers and handlers will sleep fast and be up early to get organised and ready for race start.
We’ll post race rosters tomorrow morning. In the meantime start warming up that refresh finger!
Great bib draw numbers. If I recall on this race its an advantage to have a low starting number. Im SO excited to have a race to track this weekend! Go SPK Red and Black! Cant wait to hear the rosters!
Godspeed and safe travels, SPK dogs and mushrrs and crew!
WOOF WOOF WOOF
Ready to rumble, “refresh finger” at the address position, “rally caps” in red and black at the ready…
What gorgeous photos of sunrise as race day awakens. Thank you so very much for this magnificent and meaningful couple of snaps!!!
Can’t thank you enough for sharing – this is, IMHO, better sports coverage than any other event in any of the zillion other varieties!!!
Anxious for the season! Nice to see “PERKY” made the team with Aliy. Show your
stuff Perky! Line up is great–Let’s Race! Thanks for all the photos! Go SPK!!!