TR200: Angel Creek

Red Team Update

Aliy and her Red Team have arrived into Angle Creek Lodge checkpoint at 8:37 this morning. This piece of trail is mostly on the Yukon Quest Trail from the Pleasant Valley Store. Some of these dogs will be running it again in just a couple of weeks!

Teams must complete a minimum of 10 hours of rest plus time differential (the extra time needed to offset the staggered start). The Red Team has already completed seven of those hours so will need to stay at least 3.5 hours in Angel Creek. With such a long, hilly leg to finish, however, don’t be surprised if she stays a little longer. The fresh snow will make the uphill portion of the trail more of a slog than it already was.

Aliy left Perky with the handler team at the Store. He has a sore wrist and is better to come home for some rest. He had done so well up until that point and she would like him to be fit for upcoming races.

Aliy is enjoying her race at her pace. There are several teams in front that are setting much faster times but Aliy plans to complete it at a slower, steady pace with the rest of the racing season in mind. We are expecting them to finish anywhere between 8-10pm tonight.

R&B Team Update

Jeff is on the trail towards Angel Creek. He still has his 11 team mates with him with Daisy and Ginger leading them. He said Daisy was his standout for the previous leg. He had a few issues coming from the Lodge to the Store as the trail looped around our local trails which confused some of the dogs. They couldn’t understand at some points why they turned Gee instead of Haw to go home, or why they got so close to the kennel then turned away. It is good training, especially or the youngsters, to mix it up a bit like that – and Jeff did do some training runs precisely with that in mind.

The R&Bs have completed eight hours of rest already so it is clear Jeff will be resting significantly more than the minimum mandatory. We have a training camp set up at the top of the “Firebreak” that the final trail runs right by; we expect he will stop there to rest also. Aliy told the teams about it at the mushers meeting so there may be others up there camping with him.

Thanks to the overnight handler crew of Wendy, Jeri, Mark and Padee.