It’s 4:00pm. Feeling: frustrated at the weather Gods. Rain? Seriously?
Aliy and all 14 team mates have moved through Shageluk and Anvik and are currently on the way to Grayling. They posted the fastest time from Iditarod to Shageluk for all the teams so far with a 7 hr 11 min runtime, which one might expect having come off the 24 more recently than the others. They rested for just under 2.5 hours in Shageluk and blew through Anvik at 3:45 with a runtime of 3 hours, 21 mins. They are now on the Yukon proper.
By taking the 24 hour rest later than most everyone so far, except Martin Buser, she could theoretically take the eight our rest further up the river. As always, she has packed her supply bags for several contingencies so at this point we’re not certain where she will decide to take the long rest. She will be assessing how the dogs are doing, what the weather is doing and how she is feeling to make that decision.
We’re hearing reports that it is raining out on the trail. The temperature is hovering around freezing. At least rain might keep the dogs cooler than if there were direct sun but the temperatures and running conditions are still a bit yuck.
I asked Allen what it was like to run on the river. We recorded this a few days ago when the current weather situation wasn’t known.
Check out two recent videos from the Insider: “Run Dog Run Interior” and “Run Dog Run Alaska Range” – there are some spectacular shots of our team including a cool slow-mo capture of them running through a stream in the Alaska Range. Interesting to see who tries to jump over and who just trots on through!
18 more miles to Grayling.
I LOVE that part of the video…saw Driver right off and said “that’s SPK Dawgs!” Glad you highlighted it here at the Dog Log!
Allen is SO right…so many variables…Mother Nature is a big player too…lots more racing to be done! Go Aliy and the Red Team!
Was so glad to get the back to back emails for Anvik on Aliy and whatever… Decaf wanted a way around the dang water. Heehee. Great “Run dogs Run videos. Have to say, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen Aliy sitting. Timing on the camera dude. Can’t imagine anyone standing, poling, braking for 7 hours at a time. Go team go
GO RED TEAM!!!
WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!
I saw the one video but will find the 2nd. Go Aliy and Red Team Dogs!!!!! Great looking
team of dogs!!!
Oh heck, Dawn, I’m a recreational musher and I can’t imagine doing any of that for over 2 or 3 hours at a time! 7 hours seems ‘super human’ to me (note – this is why I was never a racer! I can always turn the team around and head home and relax. Why punish ourselves?) It’s a huge athletic marathon. For the human and the dogs. Wet heavy snow is hard to pull through and hard to sled through and just plain hard to navigate. Wet conditions makes it a real slog. Yuck. Go, Aliy, go. The Red team is supercharged coming off of the long rest but she has to be careful to balance the run/rest schedules coming up. Man, is this an exciting race. Joar is leading with both checkmarks – both 24 and 8 hour rests done – but we still have to see what the coast brings. His team might tire out if they have wet conditions for the rest of the race. GO SPK!
Aliy had some great coverage. I love the dos running through. jumping over the water. Aliy is smoking the trail.
3 miles outside of Grayling…. 18:06 AKT. I bet that Aliy will pass on through, and rest again about 3hrs down the road…… Team is looking awesome!!! But they don’t like to get their feet wet !!! Be safe out their Aliy and onwards to NOME!
Yes those videos are beautiful. I watched the Run Dogs Run Alaska Range and Interior both several times, especially the first minute of the Interior video and the SPK pups crossing the water section of the Range video.
It’s pretty amusing to see all the reactions to water. I think some were pretty sure they might be able to fly over, as they went strait up, but that is likely due to having a line on while trying to jump a stream. I’m sure Aliy was heavy on the breaks here, while Decaf chose to cut in front of her, and Violet put on her breaks then finally gave in and rinsed her booties. Dawn lol! My favorite part is hearing Aliy’s giggle as they cross the snow bridge. I sincerely hope she is having the time of her life out there! 🙂
Aliy just arrived in Grayling.
I know Aliy will at least take some rest here. And while I would be super excited about her taking a 3 or 4 four hour and hitting the trail for Eagle Island or even Kaltag, I wouldn’t blame her a bit for sitting back and letting Jessie or Joar break some trail! I mean, really, Aliy laid the entire lonely trail from Ophir to Iditarod, including some creative circles around markers, in the dark, while the rest of them took their 24.
At the moment, Aliy is in Grayling, some are taking their 8 hour rest, Joar is just finally pulling out, a few are coming in behind. Aliy has caught up with the leaders and has her ENTIRE team!!!
No one can deny, that Aliy is is an amazing position.
Woohoo, Aliy is chasing Joar, Nic, Pete, Jessie, Mitch and Richie out of Grayling. I know she hasn’t taken her eight on the Yukon yet, and I don’t care! If the trail is hard at night good for her, great bold move, she can take her mandatory eight further on and the team will benefit later. She has taken awesome care of her team and she will do well. I’m aware the change from 16 to 14 dogs at start is new this year, but it still seems relevant that since 2009 teams leaving Grayling with 11 dogs or less have not placed in the top five (with the exception of DS, not in the race this year). Guess what, only two that headed out of Grayling before Aliy had more that 11 dogs still on their team.
Never give up.
Go Aliy, get er done!!!
So proud of you! <3