Its 9.45pm Monday evening, Alaska time.
RED TEAM
Aliy and the Red Team are eight miles beyond Rohn checkpoint at mile 196.
Since completing the Happy River Steps earlier today the team rested on the trail for five hours before “blowing through” Rainy Pass checkpoint. As she passed through Rainy Pass she will have stopped to pick up more supplies for the next leg of the race.
You can clearly see these breaks on the analytics view of the GPS tracker. This view shows speed, rest times and has an elevation line to follow.
They then went through Rohn, again stopping only to get supplies. We expect Aliy will stop to camp her team somewhere before Nikolai checkpoint.
For those unfamiliar with Aliy and Allen it is common for them both to camp outside of checkpoints so don’t be alarmed if you see the tracker stopped in-between. I know that Aliy avoids staying in Rainy Pass during the day, if possible, due to the number of airplanes and people that travel there, particularly on a gorgeous sunny day like today. She will often take her camping supplies (straw, food and heet to fuel the cooker to make water) and stop the team where it is quieter. They get a better rest that way.
The trail from Rainy Pass to Rohn had the teams travelling through the infamous Dalzell Gorge:
The trail runs in the open on the tundra of Ptarmigan Pass from Rainy Pass Lodge to the mouth of Pass Creek, which it then follows northwest up to the summit of Rainy Pass itself. Then there are several miles of sometimes steep downhills and often tight, twisting trail through scrub willow southwest along Pass Fork to Dalzell Creek. The trail then drops into the infamous Dalzell Gorge for a few miles and finally onto the Tatina River for the last five miles to Rohn. – Don Bowers Jnr
After Rohn the trail heads to Nikolai. For 20 miles teams travel along the South Fork of the Kuskokwim River then through the Buffalo Chutes to Farewell Lakes. Once there teams head up onto the Farewell Burn where they travel 35 miles across the Burn itself to Sullivan Creek, and then 20 miles north from Sullivan Creek past Salmon River to Nikolai.
Aliy is still currently running with 16 team mates.
BLACK TEAM
After their four hour stop in Skwentna the team went on another 40 miles to Finger Lake where they stopped for 3, 3/4 hours. It was here that Allen left Ginger due to a sore shoulder. They travelled a further 30 miles, through the Happy River Steps to Rainy Pass where they rested for six hours.
This may sound like a lot of rest for Allen but remember, he is running a team of youngsters. He is giving his team lots of rest and running shorter runs to get them into a good run/rest routine. As the race progresses he will push them a little longer and take shorter rests to give them a small taste of “hard”, then back off again before it gets too much for them. This is Allen’s strength when he runs this “Junior Varsity” team – he can read them well and knows just how far to take them to give them exposure to the trail whilst keeping it a positive experience for them.
He still has 15 athletes with him and next checkpoint for them is Rohn.
Red and Black Teams: Godspeed!! to the Varsity 16 and a good learning run to the JV 15.( Rest up,Ginger!)
Awww poor Ginger I hope she gets better soon. Good luck Aliy and Allen! <3
Aliy’s Team is looking good! Thanks for the info Moira always a nice reminder of
things they do to keep us fans calm. Allen is the master of how far he can push.
A unique skill!!! Go SPK!
Great job SPK!!!! Go Aliy and Allen! You both have amazing super athletes dog teams!!