ID: Thursday Night in Iditarod

It’s 11pm. Feeling: refreshed from avoiding the tracker all day!

Those with the Insider package have been treated to a number of videos today featuring Aliy. I guess she was Johnny on the Spot for interviews as she spent all day there. In the first video we got to see the dogs very animated, coming in to the checkpoint. She had Spark and Dutch in lead, Five and Driver in swing, Commando and QT, Amber and Nomex, Mismo and Rodney, Jefe on his own and Decaf and Violet in wheel. Wait… that’s only 13! Turns out Bruno hitched a lift for the last half a mile.

Evidently the last 10 miles into Iditarod were awful. There was very low snow and significant tussocks that made for a terrible section. She could not find the way easily as the markers were in trees around the trail, not right on the trail as it was obviously difficult for the markers to stay in the ground. She wasted some time circling around for a while before finding the way in.

In other interviews she was pretty philosophical about her gamble and said, yes, the trail was bad for her but was bad for those behind also. Through the magic of technology we were able to watch LIVE the presentation of the GCI Dorothy G Page award of $2k of Gold and a beautiful trophy. These will be represented at the Finish Banquet in Nome. Aliy was pretty happy about her gold!

What’s happening next?

The earliest Aliy and the team can exit Iditarod checkpoint is at 2:46am – that’s about four hours from now (disclaimer on my maths, I’m counting on my fingers and I’m quite tired!) Between now and then the whole team, including Aliy will be having one last nap. Over the 25 hours Aliy will have fed her team probably four times, mainly to get as many calories into them as possible to replace those they expended on the trail over. The final meal at around hours 23-24 will, however, be mostly meaty water to ensure they are fully hydrated before hitting the trail. Soaking kibble in the other meals also ensures dogs get fluids into their system. In these temperatures it is essential to keep the dogs fully hydrated as they will be feeling the heat.

Around this meal time, Aliy will get the dogs up and walk them around to stretch their legs, empty bowels and shake out any final kinks. She will be critically appraising each dog to ensure they are still good to go down the trail.

Check out this wonderful picture by Julien Schroder in Iditarod Of Rodney and Jefe. Two things here – Jefe just can’t stop kissing Aliy! And, is it just me or does Rodney look a little porky? That is a great sign halfway through a race – he always has been an eater but honestly, Rodney.

When they pull out of the checkpoint, many of the front runners will have passed them so don’t be alarmed – that’s just what happens when teams rest in different places. All of the teams that have passed her did the run down from Ophir significantly faster – that was the gamble – would the trail get better or worse in the heat of the day? Would the weather get better or worse? Remembering also that all those teams came off their 24 to run that stretch so always should theoretically have been going faster.

Once they leave Iditarod, the trail heads to Shageluk, considered the first checkpoint on the Yukon River. Teams must take an eight hour break at any of the river checkpoints: Shageluk, Anvik, Grayling, Eagle Island or Kaltag. As many strategies as there are mushers will come into play again here as the leap-frogging continues up the river.

The weather forecast for the trail for the next 48 hours is pretty dire – NOAA says:

Snow and blowing snow with areas of low visibility. 
Plan on difficult travel conditions. Storm total snow accumulations of 4 to 7 inches are expected. Visibility one half mile or less at times.

It’s going to get nasty but Aliy has a fully rested team and she’s the toughest person I know.