It’s 7:45pm. Feeling: Drained from watching the tracker inch up the coast. Mind-eased that they are in Koyuk.
Aliy and team pulled into Koyuk checkpoint at 7:21pm after a long battle with the wind up the coast, running with Jessie Holmes. Their run time was 9 hours almost exactly. They have passed Nic and Mitch and are now running in 4th position but it remains to be seen if Mitch even stops in Koyuk, having rested on the ice for a few hours. Aliy will rest the team here a while as they have been running since 10.20am (including several snack breaks along the way)
I did capture this screen shot on the right – me thinks it was just a glitch… they were travelling between 5 and 6 miles an hour for the most part.
Returned dog update
Driver and Amber are not coming to Anchorage tonight but they will be just fine where they are for another day. Volunteers and vets will be caring for them so we are not concerned about them still being out on the trail. Commando is enjoying some inside time while he’s the only one home at the Chateau.
Earlier
Doug captured some pictures and video when they saw Aliy in Unalakleet. You can see the crowd of people and media around the team.
I ended up killing the sound on this video below because of the wind noise coming through the recorder made it almost un-listenable – small dogs and children might be frightened – plus it was picking up some spectators’ private conversations so it is a silent movie about Aliy’s arrival into Unalakleet. It shows that Aliy had just given the dogs some cool water to drink and, because at this stage of the race the dogs are eating all and sundry, she put the high-fat/protein kibble right on the ground as a high calorie snack, and as you see, the gobbled it right down. She later made a proper meal for them but it was a great way to get instant high quality calories into them. Later you see her removing booties and the dogs settling down for a nap.
The crew picked up the kennels today and took them to the dog yard, an exciting part of the race for us as it means they are not that far away. We ship travel kennels out to Nome to transport the dogs home. Before the teams arrive we set them up in the dog yard with fresh straw and blankets but until we know their finishing positions and know where in the dog yard they will be situated, they are stored in a connex in the dog lot. These connex boxes serve a couple of purposes – storage and wind breaks to shelter the dogs from the notorious Nome wind.
Great Update! I believe Aliy has quite a following. Kids holding up signs “Welcome Aliy Zirkle”!
Commando looking at the TV–Linda is taking good care of him. Allen may loose more of the
couch soon. Sounds like the wind may be up on the way to White Mtn. Safe Travels Aliy!
Go Girl!
Yowzers what a day! You were right Rodney. Couldn’t peel our eyes off your tracker.
Mitch would be foolish to blow through anywhere, he lost too many of his teammates by Iditarod to be “bold” at this time. I think the new rule of 14 this year shook him more than he anticipated.
Lol, yes I noticed the “glitch” where the old trail caught up with the new trail. They were at mile 805 for MILES, then BOOM mile 818!
Moira, did you notice Jessie and Aliy stopped right when they got to beginning of the reroute? I think they checked your former post and said yep, we’re headed the right direction, Moira said so! 😉
OMG Commando, you crack me up.
Thank you for the pictures Aliy’s Dad (Doug, but ya gotta be darn proud to be Aliy’s Dad).
Great idea using the connex boxes for wind breaks.
Thank you for the amazing informative entertaining updates. I hope you get a little nap while you wait for the team to hit the trail again.
Rest time pups.
Thank you for the video and the pictures!
The Red Team is doing amazing and are moving along at a great speed. I’m glad they made it across the coast safely and are now in Koyuk.
GO ALIY! In just a couple days you’ll be in Nome!
Love the shot of Commando❤️ He’s very focused on the TV show he’s watching. That was a slow journey across the sea ice and on to Koyuk. The wind must have been fierce. Once I knew Aliy was close to Koyuk I went to bed and checked for the musher update a couple hours later to make sure. She’s moving along nicely now.
WOOF WOOF WOOF
Ditto on Commando alertly watching the TV to see how the race is going!!!
I watched your silent movie, imagining the CRACK WHHOOSH continuum.
Now this is is an Iditarod for the books!!! Those knee-high waders (or actually higher than that) are coming in handy.
When you think just last month Allen was racing in 40 below or more temps…
GO RED TEAM!!!
WOOF WOOF WOOF
SPK crew, thanks for your awesome updates. Seems weather has hampered communication this year. I saw the tracker when it said 22.2 mph and had a little mini panic attack. Was happy to see her running this morning. Go go go. Thanks again!!!