Yukon Quest Countdown and Coverage

It is less than a week until our teams will head off down the Yukon Quest trail from Fairbanks. Here’s what’s happening between now and then.

TIMETABLE

Later today Dr T Rose will come out to the kennel to complete veterinarian checks on 16 possible 1000 mile dogs. YQ veteran mushers have the option of getting vet checks done privately and Dr Rose knows us and our dogs well. Every dog that runs in the Yukon Quest must pass a thorough check to ensure they are physically fit and able to start the race. We’ll share some pics and updates from the checks tomorrow.

Here’s some pics from 2018 vet checks to give you the idea.

Wednesday evening is the Fairbanks Meet the Mushers event at the La Quinta Inns and Suites where locals and visiting fans get a chance to get up close and personal with their favourite mushers. It is also the first chance the mushers get to catch up with each other, some having not seen each other since the race last year. It is a fun, social environment and if you are in Fairbanks on Wednesday come along! You can purchase Quest merchandise including T-shirts, race guides and posters and get them signed by the mushers.

On Thursday, Allen is busy with musher meetings where the competitors will hear from the officials, the veterinarian crew and will get a detailed update from the trail crew who have spent weeks putting in the trail from Fairbanks to Whitehorse. They will be listening closely for reports of overflow, hazards, reroutes etc.

Thursday will also be the dogs’ last stretch out run before the race and as tempting as it is to wrap them in cotton wool a week or two out from the race it is not the best idea for the dogs. They’ll enjoy a run on Thursday then be rearing to go on Saturday.

Thursday evening is the Start Banquet and Bib Draw where Allen will draw his bib number that ascertains the team’s starting order. It’s also a chance for mushers to say a few words to introduce their team and thank their sponsors and supporters. We’ll keep you updated with that.

Friday is all about the Yukon Quest 300.  Karolyn and Aliy will take all the possible YQ300 dogs to the Quest-organised vet checks with the vet crew that will be on the trail. They will receive the same thorough checks that the 1000 mile dogs did earlier in the week. Friday afternoon is YQ300 musher and handler meetings and the bib draw will be conducted there. We’ll let you know when Karolyn and her team will be leaving the start chute.

Saturday is ‘go time’. At 11am AKST the 1000 mile teams will leave from downtown Fairbanks at three minute intervals and head towards the first checkpoint at Two Rivers. At 3pm the YQ300 teams will do the same. From there our job is to hit the refresh button a million times until they finish the race (hmm, I wonder if there is some way to record that?).

COVERAGE GUIDE

I say it every time, but just a reminder that we will be giving SPK-centric updates right here. You might be surprised to learn there are other mushers in the race if you only follow us but we can’t possibly update you on everyone so you might like to check out the Yukon Quest website and their social media accounts – Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Their visual content team is superb and will keep you updated about the race as a whole. You’ll find checkpoint updates, photos and some live feeds there. The official checkpoint times and current standings can also be found on their website here.

Andy Pace is the Quest’s armchair musher this year and he is not only a veteran of the race but also an excellent writer so make sure you catch up with his regular column on the YQ website.

Is is a good idea to bookmark the two GPS trackers – for the 1000 mile race the link will become active closer to the time. Click here for the YQ300 tracker.

Moira is still in NZ and following from the warmth of a southern hemisphere summer – her first in eight years. She is also working her day job during the race so we’ll cover the race a little differently – more like our Iditarod coverage in that we will give you a morning and evening update. We have handlers on the ground who will send through updates, photos and video to Moira but remember that for the most part the race travels through the wilderness of Alaska and Yukon. Reliable cell coverage or wifi might not be available and we might not always get the message through. We’ll keep you updated as quickly as we can of any returned dogs but we appreciate your patience as sometimes that info can take time.

Keep an eye on our social media also – Facebook and Instagram – where we might post some original content (our Twitter is not that active).

We hope you enjoy following along with us. We enjoy bringing you coverage and look forward to travelling the trail with you.