Races
January 13, 2018 by

Both teams are safely at Chisotchina checkpoint and resting after their run from Glennallen.

Allen and the Black Team made the 49 mile run in 5 hours which is exactly what he had planned. All the dogs are happy and healthy and settled down to rest quickly after getting their well deserved meat snacks. He has an experienced bunch who know what it means when straw goes down. They will sleep for a few hours then get their a big kibble and meat meal before starting the checkpoint exit routine. Allen will pack up his sled, dress the dogs in booties and jackets and get back on the trail to Meiers Lake.

L-R: Champ and Clyde, Felix and Chipper settle in for a sleep; Clyde helps remove his booties

L-R: Spark and Iron; Dutch and Violet

Aliy and the Red Team ran to Chistochina in 5 hours, 18 minutes which is bang on her target for the team. She had a mishap along the way and her sled has suffered some damage but she is able to fix it and continue on. I don’t have a lot of details about that yet but everyone is perfectly fine; just the sled is a little worse for wear.

L-R: Red Team arrives into Chistochina; Driver, Five, Perky (at back), Cayenne (in front) and Scooby

L-R: Chena and Nomex; Tinder and Chevie (can you tell who is the more experienced of the two?)

At this first checkpoint, when the dogs haven’t run so far and are not so tired, we like to park the team away from others when possible so they get a good rest and not disturbed too much by the teams coming and going around them.

Check out the zoomed in tracker view for the checkpoint (obviously not photographed in the winter!) and see the handler team has parked both teams on one of the outer trails.

They should have a fairly straightforward exit from the checkpoint and a quiet space for the dogs and humans to sleep.

Some mushers will start leaving the checkpoint soon so at this point I thought it a good idea to link you with some articles from Macgellan from previous years. He offers guidance on how to analyse the race and all the run / rest times that you will see. In this race, teams must take a minimum of 18 hours rest spread across the checkpoints in half hour increments. There is one mandatory six hour break where they also make up their time differential caused by the staggered start. The top teams will often take only the mandatory rest hours so the cumulative run time is the number to keep your eyes on. Here is a link to Macgellan’s post from last season explaining it far better than I could. Here’s an excerpt

The only thing that really matters in the CB300 is cumulative run times between checkpoints!

1) All teams run the same course and distance.

2) All teams have a mandatory minimum 18 hours of rest in checkpoints (and top teams will only take that amount of rest).

3) Whichever team runs the fastest between all the checkpoints will be the winner. Period. Full stop.

The weather forecast calls for significant snow over night so the trail to Meiers Lake could be slow and long. Check out the CB300 website for more detail on this 68 mile leg of the race.

Photos by William from Verizon!

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5 Responses

  • Wow, I’m impressed with how quickly Perky settled into the straw, like a pro. Good dog!

    Thank you for the awesome updates.
    Wooooop Wooooop!

  • Wonderful to see both teams get such a good start. Special thanks to Verizon for providing the excellent video of the starts and the stills. We switched our cell phone service to Verizon here in Colorado in appreciation for their sponsorship of our favorite racing kennel. Thanks Verizon! Good luck and safe travels to both teams.

  • At first glance Chipper looks like a bit of a bed hog, hahaha, get some good rest everyone!!
    Go SPK!!!!

    Heidi

  • Chevie is just too cute…she will learn in time that straw means REST. Spark use to do the same thing if I recall. Looks like this checkpoint has some cozy nooks to rest the teams.

    Yes…cumulative run time is all that matters…watch that clock! Go SPK!

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